Starscream's the one and only
by NovaBlastTF
Summary: "Think that someone else would make a superior second in command then me huh? I'll show them!." Anyone would be better Starscream? He's gonna prove them wrong Autobot style. Edited by Fliara48
1. The Scheme Begins

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Prologue:**** The Scheme Begins…**

"I'm sick of your whining and treachery, Starscream!"

"It's not _my_ fault your CPU is too old to process simple logic! Face it: you need me, _oh so wise Megatron_. Without me, you'd just dig holes and hope that the Autoscum would just fall in!"

*_Smack_*

"Anyone would make a better second in command than you! At least _then_ we wouldn't be such a laughing stock!"

"Personally, I think they're laughing at _you_. And _please_; anyone else would have offlined vorns ago... Ah! Don't hit me!"

"Even a damn Autobot would make a better commander. I wonder if one is willing to defect…"

"Those Autoslaggers? They wouldn't know their afts from their heads! Have you fried what is left of your microscopic CPU?"

"I repeat: ANYONE would be better than YOU!"

*_Fusion cannon blast_*

"Anyone would be better than me? Those Autofraggers? Megatron has finally lost it! The last nanometer of sanity and logic remaining to him has gone, lost through time! I'm the only thing holding this army together. If that slagger would just stop and _listen_ to me then this war would have ended vorns ago, but _nooooo;_ he has to play alpha leader with Optimus Prime all the time!"

Thundercracker couldn't help but let out a huff of air; Starscream had been ranting on and off for hours now. He'd randomly stormed into their quarters and started ranting and pacing- scared the living hell out of Thundercracker and Skywarp at first, but now they were just plain bored and annoyed.

"Awww, come on Scream'. Forget about Megatron," whined Skywarp, slumped over his chair.

"How could you say that? He acts like I have no purpose!"

"Well... Starscream, sometimes you can be a bit... overwhelming?"

Starscream stared at Thundercracker, optics widening then narrowing.

"Overwhelming? More like a drama femme." Thundercracker gave Skywarp the look that screamed _shut-up-you-said-too-much-again-Starscream's-gonna-slag-you_.

"You... you _agree_ with that slagger?" screeched Starscream, causing Thundercracker and Skywarp to cover their audios. "Traitors! My own trine thinks that-."

Starscream then cut off, optics widening, and then a small, eerie smirk fell upon his lips.

'_Uh oh,'_ thought Thundercracker and Skywarp. That look on Starscream's face could only mean that he was scheming something.

"...Very well, if that's how you feel, then..."

Starscream did a 180 degree turn and walked out of the room, letting the doors slide shut behind him. Silence filled the room as both black and blue seekers stared at the door their trine leader had left through.

"We're slagged, aren't we, TC?"

"Yes, Warp... Utterly slagged."

"Think that someone else would make a superior second in command to me, huh? I'll show them!"


	2. Security Breach

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 2:**** Part 1, Security Breach**

Megatron stared suspiciously at Starscream from his perch on the throne. Starscream, his second in command, was just sitting at the security monitor, typing in codes, and watching the monitors just as his shift required. Normally Megatron would pay no attention to this; he had better things to do like stare at nothing. But this time he knew that Starscream was up to something. When the seeker entered he said nothing… no sneer… no sarcastic remark… no angry look for having to do such tedious work. He just gave Megatron a nod and sat down… He was planning something, he had to be. Megatron growled at this. The last thing he needed was another one of Starscream's plays for his position, and the Decepticon leader was determined to end it before it even began.

"STARSCREAM!" Starscream then jumped… literally jumped into the air… why was he so jittery?

"Ye-yes, Commander?" Starscream stared at Megatron with wide optics, and his wings were practically vibrating.

Commander? Since when did Starscream start calling him that? ..."What are you planning now?" Megatron growled. Starscream was definitely up to something.

"W-what do you mean, Commander? I-I 'm working on security!"

Why was the seeker stuttering? "_Please_ Starscream, I see through your ploy. What are you scheming?"

"But-but-but Commander! I am working on the security of the Nemesis as per your command!"

"Starscream…," snarled Megatron, powering up his fusion cannon.

Before he could fire, the door slid open, drawing his attention to Soundwave and his cassetticons, who had chosen that moment to walk in.

"SECURITY BREACH!"

Megatron could only stare—he would forever remember those next strange moments—as Starscream (from clear across the other side of the room) shot through the air with the aid of his thrusters, and _tackled_ Soundwave to the floor.

"…What do you think you are DOING?"

"Commander! He did not seek permission to enter the control room! Code rule 2-4-1 states that all entrance to the control room must be requested and confirmed by the mech who is on the security monitor at the time. He did not! I did not allow any request! HE COULD BE AN AUTOBOT SPY!"

Megatron could only stare at the seeker who had Soundwave pinned. Starscream said what?

"Query: who else could this mech be? Command: Get off."

"You could be the Autobot cassette player BLASTER! And you all could be HIS cassetticons! Sneaking in disguised as your rival, Soundwave, to steal information from our database! I'M ON TO YOU, AUTOBOT!"

"STARSCREAM! Get off Soundwave, right now!" Megatron roared, finally snapping out of his shock. "It's obviously him!"

Narrowing his optics, Starscream snapped out a scanner from his subspace, and placed it over Soundwave's upper chest. _Where did he get that?_ Wondered the blue mech.

"So you are. Next time follow the protocol! Those Autobots are treacherous and sneaky!"

Soundwave slowly rose as Starscream finally let him up not without one last suspicious look. He'd known for ages that all seekers were crazy, but Starscream reigned king in that area. If Starscream's processors didn't work so fast, making telepathy useless, then he would be able to read the seeker's mind and know his plans… then again Soundwave was glad he couldn't.

"I think Screamer has finally lost it, boss," muttered Frenzy, and Rumble gestured in agreement. Starscream only twitched and scanned him as well, then all the other cassetticons.

They were all wary of Starscream now; he was up to something.

"Soundwave, report." Megatron sat down on his throne and pinched the bridge of his nose; he could sense his processors heating up.

"Report: Ravage has just come back from the Autobot base-".

"SECURITY BREACH!"

The cassetticon twins jumped and launched out of the way when Starscream suddenly dived for Ravage, picking the panther up and gripping her tightly. Soundwave and Megatron could only stare.

"Straight from the _Autobot base_? Have you lost all logic functions? Code rule 7-38-2 dash B states that after every spying and invading mission, the mech/femme has to go to the medbay directly afterwards to be scanned and assessed by the trained medic! Ravage could be carrying a bug or listening chip! The Autobots could be listening to all this right now, or even WATCHING! Oh Primus, they saw the schematics of our ship! They could be invading as we speak! Ravage must be cleansed, or else we will lose even more vital information! Or what if it's a controlling chip? They could be using Ravage to do this dirty and perverse work! DON'T WORRY RAVAGE, I WILL SAVE YOU!"

Starscream continued to screech about security and saving Ravage as he ran down the hall towards the medbay, holding a paralyzed Ravage in his servos.

Silence echoed throughout the throne room as the occupants tried to gather their scattered CPUs.

"…Security…Breach?"

"Code rule wha?"

"…Did he just kidnap Ravage?"

Megatron groaned; his logic center just crashed.

Hook could only stare and clutch Ravage as Starscream terrorized his other gestalt members. All he was doing was working on a component for the space bridge when Starscream burst through the medbay doors and shoved a bewildered Ravage into his servos. Now the red seeker was shouting something about Autobot spying, and Ravage's safety and innocence, before staring at Hook like he was Primus with all the answers.

"…Starscream… Do I need to have a look at your CPU? Cause it sounds like Megatron scrambled them something-" Hook started when he finally deciphered Starscream's ranting. He looked down at Ravage only to see the panther staring back in confusion.

"SECURITY BREACH!"

Starscream rushed over and tackled Mixmaster, hanging off his back with his servos around the constructicon's neck.

"WHAT THE PIT?"

"Code rule 16-28-3 states that the chemical you are currently using is restricted! Only by filling in document 16-28-72, and submitting it to higher command would you be able to have access! You are also breaking protocol code rule 16-28-72-92 by not having the correct safety equipment! That sample has now become contaminated, and must be destroyed!" Mixmaster could only stutter as the chemicals he was using were ripped out of his servos, and thrown into the incinerator. His work, slaggit!

"STARSCREAM, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR CPU?" Mixmaster was gearing up to knock some sense into Starscream, violently, only for the seeker to grab both his servos and cradle them.

"Code rule 16-108-1 states that because you have handled a dangerous and prohibited substance without the correct safety equipment, the area of contact must be decontaminated."

Before Mixmaster could object, Starscream dipped both his servos into a cleansing fluid. Mixmaster could feel the liquid seeping into his joints and numbing all the receptors there. When he took them out to see if they were still there, Starscream wrapped both his servos up tightly in some material he found. Great. Now Mixmaster couldn't feel _or_ move his servos. Starscream then gently pushed the constructicon down, and started to pat his wrapped up servos, not that he could feel it.

"Did Megatron hit you in the head or-" started Mixmaster, staring in horror at the ball of material that he thought contained his servos.

"SECURITY BREACH!"

Starscream ran across the room to Long Haul and Scrapper, grabbing their shoulders and forcing them to stop their work, and stop ignoring Starscream like they'd been doing when he first came in. "Code rule 58-91-64 states that all blueprints and projects must go through command first, before it can be started!" Scrapper and Long Haul could only stare as Starscream snatched up their projects, and subspaced them. "For the security of the Nemesis, I must confiscate these."

"…Starscream, you have three clicks to hand those back, or you'll find your aft welded to your head."

"And then, I will use what is left of your parts for the next space bridge."

"SECURITY BREACH!"

In an amazing show of strength, Starscream, using the force of his thrusters, tackled both Scrapper and Long Haul onto two medbay berths, before strapping them down. "You have just threatened an officer of the high Decepticon command! You are now under suspicion of being AUTOBOTS! What if this was their plan all along? Using Ravage to infect the rest of the Decepticon army, making us all slaves? And Scrapper and Long Haul will only be the first! They want Devastator! See why you have to save Ravage, Hook? YOU SEE? I'LL SAVE YOU, FELLOW DECEPTICONS!"

"…Starscream, when I get out of this-."

"Your logic chips have fried-."

Starscream then muffled their mouths with some more material, before plucking out his scanner, and slowly started scanning them.

"Starscream, you slagger, get off them!" roared Bonecrusher, finally getting out of his corner.

Starscream only looked over from his perch over Long Haul to stare at Bonecrusher with narrowed eyes, "Bonecrusher... how do you feel right now?"

Bonecrusher took one long look at Starscream, then at the other gestalt members, thought better of it, and went back to his corner. He was not getting anywhere near this, his gestalt be damned.

"I know that you sometimes feel left out, and are angry because of it, Bonecrusher. But I'm doing this for the safety of the Decepticon army, meaning you and your gestalt. And I just want you to know, I'm here for you."

Bonecrusher only retreated further into his corner. Starscream was scary when he was being all nice.

"Hook? ...is that your scanner? The one you said you needed, and would slag whoever had it?" Hook looked over at Mixmaster, who still had his servos out in front of him.

"…I don't think I want it back now… Seekers are crazy."

Ravage just bolted through the doorway to safety.

"Soundwave… What has Starscream done now?"

Starscream had been on a rampage across the Nemesis about security for nearly half the day. The list of 'attacked' Decepticons had been steadily on the rise.

"Actions: Tied the Reflector triplets together so that he knew where each one was; locked Astrotrain in the airlock for decontamination against foreign space substances; put helmets on the cone heads saying that it was a hazard to the other Decepticons; put the Insecticons in cages, saying they were too out of control in their consumption of energon and so were a danger-".

"Enough! Where is he now?"

"Location: In his quarters, with Thundercracker and Skywarp."

"That slagger has been causing chaos around the whole ship, and now he's just in his quarters? Who does he think he is?"

"Identity: Redalert, head of security of the Autobot army."

"...What?"

"Repetition: Redalert, head of security of the Autobot army."

"..." *thud*

"Recommendation: Hitting head on the walls, not advised."

"Screamer?"

"Yes, my dear Skywarp?"

"I'm sorry for calling you a drama femme."

"Apology accepted, dear Skywarp."

"Thanks Screamer, that's nice... Screamer?"

"Yes?"

"Can you unwrap us now?"

"No, Skywarp."

"What if I stop calling you 'Screamer?'"

"No, my dear, dear Skywarp. You and Thundercracker are my trine. You're very important to me. I must keep you all safe and sound from the dangers out there, even if it means having to wrap you up completely in bubble wrap till you can't move and then some. I must do it. For your _safety~._"

"Oh...TC, I'm scared."

"I know, Warp, I know."

Starscream couldn't keep away the smirk that consumed his faceplates as he read from his datapad. Anyone would make a better second in command than him, his perfect aft.


	3. Firewall Upgrade

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 3:**** Part 2, Firewall Upgrade**

"Star? Don't you think this is going a bit far?"

"No, Skywarp, I don't."

"But every one of the Decepticons is avoiding you like you have cosmic rust after all the 'Security Breaches.'"

"Yes, yes, I know, but Megatron still hasn't learned anything! And I will make sure that he and the other Decepticons will never forget that I am the Second in Command!"

"But, Starscream! Megatron won't even move an inch around you, or even budge when your name is mentioned… I think it was the cycles and cycles of you staring at him straight for no reason."

"And _that_ is only the beginning of my plan, Thundercracker. Now keep painting!"

Megatron was sitting on his throne, looking across the room and holding on tightly to his fusion cannon. He twitched at every footstep. The reason? Starscream.

The day before, Starscream was running rampant through the ship, imitating the Autobot, Redalert. Not only did he terrorize the entire Decepticon army about useless and outdated security protocols_, Who knew that there were so many?_ There was even one for drinking energon for Primus sake, but then, after scarring the soldiers for life, the seeker then came into the control room, sat down, and just stared.

Never took his optics off Megatron—just stared, twitched his wings, and stared. Megatron was tense when he first entered as one never know what Starscream might be planning in that twisted CPU. After a cycle though, he was on edge, and ready to shoot Starscream just to get him to _do something_… ANYTHING! But he was not going to lose this mental battle to Starscream… unless Starscream twitched those wings _one more time! _ Luckily, Starscream chose to leave at that moment.

"Soundwave! Where is Starscream now?"

"Location: Med bay."

"What is he doing in there?"

"Purpose: Unknown."

Med bay? He hadn't slagged Starscream lately; he was too busy _hiding_—err, doing _work_ in his quarters. Did some mech finally snap with all the security protocols, and beat the seeker senseless for him? _Not that he couldn't do it himself_… Or was this part of Starscream's new plan?

Megatron shuddered. _Not again…_

Dirge offlined his optics, counted to ten, turned them on again, and stared.

"How the in the pit did you get this slagged? What, did you have a fight with the wall or something!"

"S-S-Starscream?"

"STOP MOVING! You cracked your cockpit, and I need to paste this compound onto it so we don't have to waste spare parts on your worthless aft!"

"W-Why are you white? What's that thing on your head? WHAT ARE THOSE PAINTED ON YOUR WINGS?"

"SHUT UP! Or I will weld your lip components together, and use you for spare parts!"

*_Whimper_*

"…Wimp."

Dirge stayed frozen to the spot as… _Starscream_… gently coated the cracks in his cockpit with the paste and slowly started to heat it, watching it closely. Dirge whimpered and looked to the side; his two trine mates were holding each other and trying to phase through the wall, scared out their processors. Dirge then turned to stare at Starscream again, who was looking over the now intact glass.

This… this was wrong… He and his trine just had gotten those fragging helmets off, and now this? When this was over he was going to go, take his trine and lock themselves in their quarters until Starscream returned to normal… _If he ever was…_

"There! Brand new. I better not see you here again, Dirge. YOU OR YOUR TRINE. I just fixed your useless aft, and don't think that because you want a fight with the window, I'll fix your aft again. I have enough to deal with in this fragging gung-ho army who thinks that bashing their heads against solid objects will magically make them smarter. One more injury, and I will weld you to the ceiling! YOUAND YOUR FLY-INTO-THE-WALL-TRINE!" Dirge was scared as the welder was just in Starscream's reach, and him waving around the ratchet was not encouraging either. "Now, GET OUT OF MY MED BAY!"

Dirge and his trine did not need another warning before they dashed out of the med bay so fast that they nearly ran straight into Hook who was walking in. "RUN HOOK! RUN FOR YOUR PRIMUS GIVEN LIFE!" Screamed Thrust as he flew past.

Hook stared at the departing seekers, looked at the innocent door, and cycled his vents. Seekers were crazy, but with the scared look on their face plates, _something_ had to be up. What with Starscream acting weird… Hook mentally prepared himself, and walked in to see… _a white seeker._

'_Who the pit?_' Wondered Hook, gawking.

They didn't have another seeker, much less a white one. Did this one just come from Cybertron or something? Why wasn't he told about this? He was the primus damned medic of the army—one would think that the arrival of new personnel was something he should be informed of right away. It was even another seeker! Like they didn't have enough crazy ones already. Starscream alone was enough to drive them off the ship and into the Autobots' arms.

"Alright, who the pit are you?"

The unknown seeker paused and started to turn around, and Hook could feel his horror growing as more and more of the seeker was revealed. "Well it's about slagging time, Hook! Do I look like I can handle this fragging army alone or something? Do I look like Primus to you? You were supposed to have your aft in here nearly a cycle ago! I swear I should just weld your aft to the door! You think that I don't have things to do? I have to go and give Megatron these medical reports, because SOMEONE thinks that Primus will perform a slagging miracle and do it for them!"

Starscream continued to rant about the "gung-ho hey-I-wonder-if-I-can-eat-rocks" army, and how all the Autobots needed to win was to just wait another few cycles as he walked out the door. Hook stayed frozen in the same position for a few astroseconds before he was seen running through the halls to hide in his quarters. Astroseconds later, the other constructicons were also seen running to their quarters as they'd felt Hook's discovery through their shared bond.

Megatron huffed in frustration; Starscream was a cycle late for his duties, and he was getting antsy.

"Location: Starscream heading to the control room," droned Soundwave, reading Megatron's thoughts. Ravage jumped and hid in Soundwave's compartment, still scared pitless after the Redalert incident.

Megatron just nodded. He was sure Starscream was up to something again—he must have been over the Redalert phase, and planning something else by now.

The doors opened to reveal a shining white and red seeker, with a halo of white surrounding him. Megatron and Soundwave stared in wonder, then in growing horror as it dawned on them just _who_ it was. It was Starscream, their crazy second in command, painted white, with red crosses on his arms and wings, and with a red, "V" shaped chevron attached to his forehead.

Primus must hate them…

"Sorry for being late, but that fragging Hook decided to take his time dragging his aft around the ship. Him and those damn Coneheads... You'd think those damn seekers would realize that going head first into solid objects would be bad, but nooo~." Starscream huffed indignantly and handed Megatron some datapads. "I also did a file checkup and discovered that our incompetent medic, Hook, never updated our firewalls. You would think that crashing on a foreign planet would give him a clue that we are in dire need of one, but you know him—always with his head stuffed up his aft. So I will be ordering a mandatory firewall upgrade for all personnel!"

Megatron could only gawp at the datapads with dread. Starscream messing around with his internal defenses? Messing around in _his _CPU? When Optimus Prime declared his undying love to _Frenzy_, he would!

Soundwave retreated out of the room through the door to hide. He did not like where Starscream's order was leading.

"I'll be in the med bay getting ready." Starscream headed to the doors. "I'll see you soon, _Commander~!_"

As the doors shut, blocking out the white seeker from view, Megatron locked them, and hurriedly moved to secure the rest of the throne room.

Primus had doomed them in the form of a seeker.

"To all Decepticon personnel: There will be a mandatory upgrade of all your internal firewalls and processors. Report to the med bay immediately so they can be installed. DON'T THINK I WON'T HUNT YOU SLAGGERS DOWN! YOUR AFTS ARE MINE TODAY, AND DON'T THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE EITHER! Just make it easier and less painful on yourselves, and come to the med bay. Starscream, the medic, out."

Starscream hummed as he started to fiddle with some of the equipment. '_Slide this here, click this on here, all clear? ...Yes! All ready!_'

"Star?" Starscream turned to see Skywarp hiding behind Thundercracker at the med bay doors.

"My loyal trine! You came! I had my suspicions that you wouldn't come, but I shouldn't have doubted you so!"

"We were too scared cause of last time, and with you acting like that medic Ratchet…"

"The emotions you were sending across the bond were not encouraging either…"

"Oh Thundercracker, you make me out as if I were the pit master."

"TC! We should run!"

"Hush Skywarp, or he'll weld us to the ceiling."

Starscream pretended he did not hear that, and turned to pick up two hand held devices. "Just connect yourselves to these through your CPU cables."

Thundercracker and Skywarp warily took them from the white seeker, only to stare at them like they were going to transform and bite off their servos.

"…That or we can do it the more manual way."

The two seekers stuttered in horror as Starscream picked up the ratchet. "No, NO-NO! We'll do it!"

Both seekers then plugged them in, their systems shut down for an astrosecond before rebooting. "That's it?"

"Of course, Skywarp! You act as though I was going to rewire your interface panels or something."

Thundercracker was looking himself over. "…I think I feel better than before."

"What do you think an 'upgrade' means? Of course you feel better, you slagger! Don't doubt my work."

"What's that?" Skywarp pointed over at the long device that Starscream had just been working on. The sadistic smile that encased Starscream's face sent a shiver to his two trine mates' sparks.

"This is my secret weapon, and punishment for those un-loyal slaggers."

"You mean, we would've gotten that if we didn't come to the med bay?"

"…Perhaps, Skywarp, perhaps."

"TC!"

"Let's just hide in our quarters, Skywarp."

"Have fun in there, you two, cause I know I'm definitely going to~!" Starscream was caressing the device as Skywarp warped himself and the blue seeker out to safety. "Fun indeed."

"I swear, Frenzy, Screamer's lost his microprocessor."

"You're tellin' me, Rumble. The Autobot, Ratchet? What the pit is goin' on around here?"

Both the cassetticon twins were hiding in an old, unused storeroom. When they saw Starscream come into the throne room, they recognized another crazy plan, and decided to split from Soundwave to hide.

"What's with all this Autoscum acting?"

"Who knows what goes through that fraggin seeker's processor. It's probably over another argument with Megatron or somethin'."

"How the pit is this even a play for leadership? Annoy the frag out of us into submission?"

"Hey, it's Screamer! How would I know?"

_Click_

Frenzy and Rumble went quiet, and listened for another sound. "Did you hear…?"

"Shut up!"

…_tap, tap…_

Frenzy and Rumble froze as they heard footsteps coming closer to the storeroom they were hiding in. Frozen and tense, they were determined to stay hidden until those footsteps passed; they were determined not to suffer through Starscream's crazy plan. When the footsteps passed and faded, they both let out a relieved cycle of air.

"Any idea who that fragger was?"

"Don't care. Who the slag would even be down here?"

"Probably those insecticons or somethin'. They're always crawlin' around."

"Let's just get out of here, hide in the brig area or something like that. Screamer would never look there."

"Yeah! Scaredy seeker—move a little underground, and they start freakin' out!"

Both cassetticons laughed as they opened the door and walked out into the hall, only to freeze when they realized that someone was right behind them. "Well, well, well… Look what 'that Screamer' just found."

"Screamer-!"

"What the slag is that-!"

_Click!_

Two simultaneous screams echoed through the empty halls. "Two down, the rest of the ship to go~."

Two avian birds were flying through the halls, dodging all the other Decepticon troops that were running to take cover. Word had gotten out that Starscream was hunting down every mech in the Nemesis, and everyone was scrambling to safety. The two cassetticons birds slashed through the air at high speeds as more screams echoed through the halls, only encouraging them to move faster. Buzzsaw and Laserbeak were flying towards the airlock thinking that if they were out of the ship and in the open air, Starscream would never find them.

They had felt Frenzy and Rumble fall, and they did not want to be next; it felt _painful!_

As they flew past Swindle, Buzzsaw was barely able to dodge a flying projectile that just scraped his wing. It stabbed Swindle on his leg though, and he roared in pain, swearing at Starscream before falling over. The two birds paused to look back, only to see a smiling seeker who reloaded and cocked his weapon. "Hunting season's _open_, slaggers!"

Buzzsaw and Laserbeak quickly flew around the corner in a panic as they heard Starscream activate his own thrusters to give chase. The halls were large enough to allow the seeker to fly, but not wide enough to give him much maneuverability—something that the two cassetticons were counting on as they bobbed and weaved through the fleeing mechs. Only two more halls to go until the airlock!

Screeching in relief as they reached the airlock, Buzzsaw quickly commed to open the door, but to their horror, they were denied. Trying to break in mid-air from full speed, they flapped helplessly before slamming into the door that sealed their fate. As they fell to the floor, they were dazed and helpless as a seeker's shadow loomed over them.

"Sorry, must be a leftover from the 'security breaches'. Oh, lucky me!"

Two shrieks cut through the air, scaring the remaining troops.

Soundwave paced back and forth in the empty hallway with Ravage at his heels. He knew Starscream was hunting down everyone that crossed his path, and already four of his cassettes had been taken down. Ravage whined at his foot. As Soundwave leaned down to pat her, he saw a flash of white pass the edge of his vision. Freezing in mid motion, he did a scan around the area as the white disappeared… Nothing…

Ravage, noticing this, shuddered and huddled against Soundwave for comfort.

_Click_

Soundwave whirled around to see… _nothing…_

_Tap, tap…_

Ravage cowered before running off down the hall. Soundwave was about to follow her, but stayed back to see if it was really Starscream or just nothing. He watched as Ravage disappeared and wondered how Starscream could be here now when he had only just last been sighted in the other side of the ship. Suddenly there was a roaring yowl that echoed throughout the hall… RAVAGE!

Soundwave rushed in the direction that Ravage was last seen… to see her lying on her side in the middle of the hall. Kneeling by her side, he inspected her to see a small piece of metal lodged in the side of her neck. Upon closer inspection, the piece of metal was shaped to form a teardrop, and looked like it had held something inside. He quickly checked over Ravage for damages only to find that there was apparently nothing wrong with her; It seemed as if she were just recharging.

Cycling his vents in relief, Soundwave picked her up and made to stand only to stop and stare at the wall in front of him. Though the ship was naturally dark, the walls were a dark purple, and no one ever cleaned them, he could not mistake the blurry splash of white shown within its dim reflection.

"Greetings, _Soundwave~._"

A thud was heard throughout the empty hall, followed by evil laughter.

"Now where is that last one~?"

A small shadow wandered through the empty halls, keeping close to the walls and floor as it slowly made its way through to its destination. Squeaking at every distant scream, he quickly shuffled until he reached two large doorways. He sighed in a mix of relief and fear as he entered. The doors closed ominously behind him, with only two words shining in the dull light: Med bay.

Squeaking, the little bat flapped onto a berth and waited. Little Ratbat hadn't been with Soundwave when Starscream had entered the throne room, but was instead in his quarters. He'd been playing when he noticed a feeling of dread coming from his creator and siblings. Not knowing what was wrong, he headed towards Soundwave until he heard Starscream's announcement. Next thing he knew, everyone was being hunted down. On the other side of the ship, cut off from his siblings and his creators, Ratbat had been hiding in a cupboard. As more and more screams ripped through the Nemesis, and his siblings were taken down two by two, Ratbat decided to brave it and listen to Starscream's warning.

Cooing in fear, Ratbat curled into a ball as he heard footsteps heading towards the med bay. Who was it? Was it one of his siblings? Creator? But he couldn't feel them awake. Another Decepticon? Or… _Starscream_…

The footsteps stopped outside the door before the doors opened to reveal a seeker's shadowy silhouette. "So this is where you've been hiding?"

Squeaking in fear, Ratbat cowered and let out a small nod. "That's good… Nice to know that _some_ will listen to my orders, unlike those other slaggers… but they have been properly punished."

Starscream then chuckled, rubbing his rifle filled with upgrade chips. Ratbat curled into a smaller ball, ready to be shot.

"Time for your upgrade, little Ratbat!"

Megatron was holed up in the throne room, watching on the monitors as one by one, all of his troops were being hunted down and shot by the raging medic, Starscream. He watched in dread as they were all taken down too quickly for his liking. Looking down the list of remaining mechs, he realized in horror that there was only one Decepticon left that Starscream hadn't yet hunted down… _Megatron._

Growling, the Decepticon leader knew that Starscream would now be after him. At least he'd made sure that the throne room was now locked and secure. Now all he had to do was wait Starscream out, nothing could interrupt-

"_Message from the Autobots._"

What? What did those slaggers want now? Didn't they realize he had enough to deal with right now?

"Megatron."

Megatron couldn't help but glare at the Autobot leader—_of course_ he would have such great timing. "Prime, normally I would listen to your blathering talks of peace and love, but right now I have no time!"

Optimus couldn't help but look a little surprised. Normally Megatron would at least wait long enough to see what he wanted before cussing at him. "Megatron, we have come with a request to use the space transport. We are willing to trade-"

_Scratch, scratch…_

Megatron whirled around, trying to see where the noise was coming from. No one could get in here, right?

Prowl and Redalert exchanged suspicious glances. What was up with Megatron, looking so nervous? "Prime, I have more important things right now than trying to deal with you!"

"…Megatron, is there something wrong?"

Wrong? _WRONG_? His seeker had gone even _more_ psychotic than usual, and was now acting like that damned Autobot medic! What could Prime _possibly_ know about _wrong_?

"Nothing _you_ may concern your tiny processors about! There is nothing you can give to make me let you use our-"

_Tap, tap…_

Megatron froze and turned around again. Did he just hear…? No, it couldn't be that Starscream was out there.

Optimus stared at the panicking Megatron; what was he so scared of? Even his command was now gathering around, watching in interest. "Meg's jumpier then a turbo rabbit right now."

"Hush, Jazz."

Megatron turned on his fusion cannon, and was looking at the shadows suspiciously. He knew he had heard something. Powering it up and moving towards the shadows, he was about to fire until… The small shadow let out a large '_squeak!_' and flew away. He watched as the thing landed on top of his throne to reveal Ratbat, the small cassetticon. He cycled his vents before returning to the screen.

"Lil' Scared of a lil' bat, Megaslagger?"

"Quiet, Ironhide."

Megatron growled at the screen. Great, he was making a fool out of himself in front of the Autobots. He took one last look at the cassetticon and turned to the screen, powering down his fusion cannon. "Look here, you pit spawn. I, the mighty Megatron, am afraid of _nothing._ There is nothing happening here that you need concern yourselves over. And I repeat: you have _nothing_ of interest that will lead me to even_ consider_ letting you use our space transport!"

Megatron did not notice the second shadow moving towards him from behind. "You will just have to go back to losing battles and protecting those weak fleshies. I didn't know you could be so desperate over there, Prime—begging to use out space transport? My, my, my, you are getting weak, Prime…."

As Megatron continued to rant, he did not notice that the Autobots were slowly no longer looking at him, but at something behind him. Some were even doing double takes, looking at Ratchet, and then again at the screen. Only after another few astroseconds, when Megatron saw Optimus' optics go wide, did he stop. Frozen and tense, Megatron finally sensed that there was another heinous presence standing right behind him.

"Hello, _Commander~!_" An unmistakably screechy voice lilted with menacing glee.

Whirling around and powering up his fusion cannon, Megatron only had time to stare at the rifle pointed directly at his chest. The last thing he saw was Starscream's grinning face before a large 'BANG' came from the rifle, and darkness overtook him.

"MEGATRON!" Optimus barked in shock, and moved closer to the screen, to see if his arch nemesis had really been offlined.

"Oh, so dramatic, Prime~."

As the seeker finally stepped into full view, the Autobots couldn't help but gasp at Starscream. Why did he look like… like _Ratchet_?

"…S-Starscream?" Optimus finally found his voice after a long, uncertain pause.

"Medic Starscream, to you!" The seeker pointed in a grandiose pose at the screen.

Prowl looked to be on the verge of crashing, while the others only gawped in shock. Even Ratchet didn't know what to think.

"…Medic… Starscream…" Prime said evenly, after a longer pause.

"Something wrong, Optimus? My, my, do I need to look at your processors too?" Chuckled Starscream. "My righteous Commander is alright—just an internal firewall upgrade. Normally it wouldn't be so painful, but as you know, Ratchet, they never come willingly."

"…I don't know whether to feel flattered or deeply disgusted," murmured Ratchet, staring at the strange device in Starscream's hands. "What exactly _is_ that thing?"

"This? My own invention, of course. It's a rifle that is able to administer processor upgrades by forcibly entering the chip into the mech. The information then goes up to the processors, and upgrades them. Though the side affect is _pain_, but that will teach them to avoid medical appointments." Starscream chuckled airily while scratching a purring Ratbat under the chin as the cassetticon had seen it was safe to approach, now. "Though if they are willing, you could just use the handheld ones, and insert the upgrades painlessly, directly into the processor."

"…Can… Can I get the schematics for it?" The other Autobots stared at Ratchet in horror.

"…Of course! You always need to help a fellow medic," chirped Starscream.

"We have to go!" Jazz made a dramatic leap to cut the transmission.

Starscream stared at the now black screen before shrugging. "Oh well, looks like my job is done for the day. Let's leave these bots to their rest while we go get some energon. You definitely deserve some for helping me get in, little Ratbat~," the seeker purred.

Ratbat chirped in agreement as he rode Starscream to the rec room. Ratbat did not see what was so bad about processor upgrades… when he was willing.

Megatron groaned as he lay on his berth. Apparently it was not only painful getting shot with that rifle, but it made one wake up with a huge processor ache. The Nemesis had never been so quiet before, and for that he thanked Primus.

The only noises in the ship were a happily squeaking Ratbat, he was elated and excited since now he could play with all the toys without having to share with his incapacitated siblings, and the seeker command trine quietly talking.

"I don't think it's ever been this quiet."

"I think you're right, TC."

"Starscream, are you done with all this acting yet?"

Both seekers looked over to the, once again, red seeker, who was typing something onto some datapads.

"Over? You think that this is over?" The two seekers cowered at the crazed, plotting look Starscream gave them. "Not by a long shot!"

"Wow, Ratchet. What's that?" Wheeljack curiously stepped into the medbay, and walked over to inspect Ratchet's new device. Though Ratchet was responsible for helping Wheeljack add the final touches to many of his inventions, it was rare to see the Chief Medical Officer working on a project on his own. "…I didn't know you made weapons."

"No, it's not a weapon, Wheeljack," replied Ratchet, who was in a strangely good mood, as he clicked the last pieces together.

"Oh? Sure looks like one." The Chief of Engineering scratched his head innocently, looking at the device in confusion. "Then what is it?"

"Hmmm? Oh… just a little something a… _fellow medic_ taught me." Ratchet smiled wickedly, and Wheeljack was delightfully oblivious.

"Oh! That's good then. I coulda swore it was a—err, rifle or something." The engineer finished as his uniquely emotive audios flashed a pleasant yellow.

Wheeljack then merrily resumed his trek back to his lab, innocently humming to himself as Ratchet chuckled evilly at his retreating figure. "Or something…."


	4. Training Time

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 4:**** Part 3, Training Time**

_Snap…Sizzle…Bang…Click, Click…Click, Click…Smack!_

"There, done!"

Two large pieces were held up in triumph, gleaming red in the dim lab lights. "Now where are those paints?"

Cycles later, two seeker shadows were seen painting another similar but smaller seeker shadow. "You want ALL red, Star?"

"Yes, Skywarp, and hurry it up! I have a schedule to keep."

"Who's all red on the Autobot side?"

"Oh! TC, what about that slagging minibot? Cliff-tripper, Cliff-faller, Slag-jumper?"

"…You mean Cliffjumper?"

"Yeah! That midget bot!"

"QUIET, BOTH OF YOU! Just keep painting! I can't keep my _loyal _army waiting."

"…Star, I think that they all still have a hangover… yeah!"

"You really think he cares, Sky?"

The smaller seeker smiled evilly. Oh yes, he did know. And today would be another great day to make Megatron pay…

The Nemesis was still quiet as all the bots but three seekers and a Cassetticon were still carrying processor aches from the forced upgrades. Bots moved slowly throughout the ship, avoiding arguments, scraps, and general interaction. It was a blissful peace that was rarely seen on the Nemesis, and it shattered to an end when a red seeker sat down at the main console.

"T'all you Decepticon pitspawns. It has come t'mah attention that yer all seriously lackin' in any skills. What is this? Y'all fighters r' sparklin's? I seriously can't believe how bad y'all are. I swear you couldn' even shoot Prime if he was just standin' right in front a ya holdin' yer gun to 'is sparkcase. Yer s'posed t'be th' Decepticon's finest, and here you're gettin' slagged by fraggin' minibots!" Starscream smirked as he watched every mech clutch their audios in pain—his screeching drawl was cutting through their hung-over processors like a high powered laser scalpel.

"How can y'call yerselves' soldiers if even'a squishy can beat ya! I can't stand any o' this incompetence no more! No more o' this weakness! It's high time for you ta be real fighters! Ahm orderin' a mandatory trainin' session for all your sorry afts! AND I MEAN EVERYONE! We all meet at th' small island 10 cycles down south of th' ship! AND DON'T THINK YA CAN SKIP OUT! I'LL WAIT HERE TILL ALL OF Y'ALL ARE ON THAT ISLAND! AFT DRAGGERS WILL BE BITCHED AT TILL THEY PICK UP TH' PACE! AND DON'T THINK THAT TURNIN' OFF YER COMMS'LL SAVE YOU! AS SECOND IN COMMAND, I CAN OVERRIDE THAT! Move yer afts, slaggers! I can keep talkin' aaaall day!"

Starscream chuckled as all the smart mechs started running towards the air locks to get out. Some defiant ones though, were just standing around swearing up a storm. Like a certain grey gunformer for instance... Well, Starscream was going to fix that. Megatron always did say that the seeker loved the sound of his own voice, after all.

Decepticon troops stood in groups spread around the island. It was a small and uninhabited place, allowing the troops to recover from the Screeching Drawl of Doom they had received from a certain red seeker. They quietly muttered to one another and swore at Starscream, really. They were shocked to see both Soundwave and even Megatron land on the shore after a while… So Starscream did mean _everyone._

Megatron only glared at the curious looks he received from his troops. Slagging Starscream—with a voice like that screeching through Nemesis, even he couldn't stand it. Turning off his audios did nothing for him either after Starscream started to blast heavy bass music throughout the whole ship. Clever seeker. He couldn't hear it but he could FEEL it when the sound vibrations traveled through the metal floors and up his body, and the pounding only made his processor ache worse.

Soundwave had just wanted to get away from the bad music.

Everyone groaned when they heard the familiar sounds of thrusters followed by the accompanying screeching voice. "Glad y'all could make it."

Starscream landed gracefully to face the angry glare of the entire army, something he was quiet used to by now. "Time fer th' trainin', you femmes!"

"Starscream! What is the meaning of this?" Megatron growled out softly in anger, he couldn't find the energy to shout while his head still pounded. "First attacking us, and now this?"

"Now, now, Commander! Just some trainin' t'get us back in'ta shape!" Starscream started pacing while pulling out some datapads, "An I have th' regimen that'll get us all back and slaggin Autoscum again!"

"On whose authority?" Megatron clutched his head… all he wanted right now was for the seeker to shut up.

"Mine, o' course." Everyone watched in horror as Starscream pulled out two guns that were even larger than Megatron's fusion cannon, "Second in Command, weapon specialist Starscream!"

The ground shuddered and cracked, birds flew from the trees, and mammals ran to hide in their holes. The rhythmic thumps that came from the shore were the source. All was at peace on that beach, with the crashing waves crashing lazily against the shore… until a pair of large metal feet slammed into the gritty sand, leaving a trail of large indentations, followed by about thirty more pairs of running pedes.

"Why in the pit do we have to run?" Whined a certain red cone head. "We're seekers for Primus' sake! We fight in the sky, not on the slagging ground!"

"Hey, quit your whinin'!" shouted a certain cassetticon trying to dodge the incoming feet. "At least _you're_ not getting' stepped on—HEY, WATCH IT!"

"Heh! Not my problem you're a midget," sneered a nearby blue cone head seeker.

"I'LL SHOW YOU MIDGET YOU BIRD BRAIN-"

Frenzy was cut off as a blast sent him flying backwards. The seekers also were forced to the ground as a second volley of blast rained down on them. "SLAGGIT, that hurt!"

"KEEP MOVIN', SLAGGERS! YER S'POSED T'BE RUNNIN' NOT RUNNIN' YER MOUTHS OFF!" Starscream primed his cannons for another volley. "ON YER PEDES! GET MOVIN'!"

The three seekers and cassetticon yelped and dodged the two massive blasts that left craters in the once respectably flat sandbar. "B-but St-Starscream, we're seekers! We fly, not run!"

"YA WANNA FLY, HUH? WELL FLY THEN, SLAGGERS!" Another earth-rumbling blast urged the three cone heads to take to the sky, thrusters howling. "ALL SEEKERS TO TH' SKY! Y'WANNA FLY SO BAD? THEN YOU CAN JUST KEEP FLYIN' AREIAL FORMATION DELTA ALPHA SEVEN!"

The seekers that were still running groaned and launched into the air, they cringed as the sand in their thrusters rubbed against their delicate pede circuitry. The ones who lagged behind were shot by Starscream. "You pitspawned ground pounders can just keep runnin', and t'make sure ya keep runnin', ma helpers will be watchin' ya!"

The ground bots looked up to see both Starscream's trine mates following them. "Hey give us a break, yeah? That upgrade is still causing my processors to purge."

"And end up like you guys? Yeah right, KEEP MOVING, SLAGGERS."

The grounded bots shouted out in fury as Skywarp maniacally laughed and let out a few shots that strayed close to them.

"Skywarp, I command you to stop that NOW!"

The purple and black seeker yelped and flew back from the roar of Megatron. The purple and black seeker might fear Starscream's punishment, but not enough to go against Megatron… maybe. The blue seeker, taking pity on his trine mate, flew ahead to the front of the running group that was lead by Megatron.

"Sir, it is best if you keep running. Starscream might start screeching at you if he sees you stopped."

"You think that I'm afraid of that fragging coward?" With a spray of sand, Megatron came to a skidding halt, and shot a murderous glare at the seeker. Soundwave just ran past, followed by a handful of bots, sensing Starscream's presence coming closer. "There is nothing that that treacherous slagger can-"

"WHY THE PIT HAVE Y'ALL STOPPED MOVIN', HUH? KEEP MOVIN'!'" Screeched Starscream, thrusters roaring past the group, while he bombarded them with cannon fire. Mechs shouted and cursed, dodging the incoming fire while clutching their heads as the roaring passed only to be followed by six other sets of roaring thrusters.

Mechs groaned and ran as they saw Starscream turning around to come at them again, "STARSCREAM, YOU SLAGGER!"

"ALL IN TH' INTEREST OF TH' ARMY, COMMANDER!"

Mechs now powered on ahead, and Starscream smirked while giving his trine mates a wicked glare. Thundercracker and Skywarp cringed at the silent threat, and flew to follow the running group. Starscream was now scarier than Megatron, and it wasn't just because of the larger guns.

"Good, now all'a you winged slaggers—it's time fer special flyin' trainin'," the seekers cringed at the guns now facing them, "an mistakes will not be tolerated."

The rainmakers and the cone heads were flying for their lives through complicated maneuvers—any mistakes gave Starscream a reason to start shooting. And with his new canons he didn't even have to be a good shot. Covered in burns and scraps, their engines whined with overuse, and all six seekers were ready to drop out of the sky after going through nearly every maneuver created. The ground bots stared at them with some small sympathy. Very, very small. They had already stopped running to start shooting practice. That small shred of sympathy though didn't stop them from making gleeful remarks and sneers at the suffering seekers' expense.

"…Alright, to th' ground, seekers," said Starscream finally, and he gracefully landed, air vents only working slightly harder than usual.

The two trines all but crashed into the shore lying limp in the water, "THANK PRIMUS."

"I never want to fly again."

"I can't feel my wings!"

"My wings won't stop twitching…"

"I think I lost my thrusters!"

"I think I saw primus."

"So dramatic… go t'the center of th' island to get some energon, then meet back here." Starscream waved their complaints off. "I'm timin' your afts, so hurry if you wanna get any!"

The seekers grumbled and limped past. Some were even hanging onto each other.

"…You really think that this will be over soon?" The two trines froze as Starscream seemed to turn back into himself momentarily. "You think that this is going to be it? That the next day you will all wake up back to the old screeching and unappreciated second in command? You're wrong."

The two trines cringed at the images that crossed their processors. "…But it _can_ end faster, and your suffering _could_ be alleviated… If you listen well to my orders from now on. You may even get some entertainment from it~."

The seekers looked at their trine leaders then back at each other. This was a dangerous choice to make… but with the past few cycles being what they were… It felt like they were making a deal with the pit master.

"…Fine, we'll do it."

"I know you can do better than that~."

Gritting their dentas they looked at one another once more before looking Starscream in the optics and saying, "Air Commander Starscream, you have our loyalty."

"Now was that so hard? Good… now the games just became more fun."

The two tired trines felt a dark ominous feeling cross over their Sparks as they watched their Air Commander cackle evilly. Primus take them now, the Decepticon army was doomed…

As everyone got a break to take in some energon, mechs sat in groups gulping down energon like it was going to be their last… it did feel like it.

After a few breems of rest most were back and up. Resting against a tree was a grey transformer glaring and mentally cursing at a certain gung-ho seeker. Speaking of Starscream, where was he?

"Location: thirty astroseconds away with all the seekers."

Was he still training his air comrades? Good, then he wouldn't have to deal with those crazy flyers—especially Starscream… speaking of him, when did Soundwave become loyal enough to even listen to the seekers orders? Even his cassetticons weren't complaining when Starscream shot at them- they ran away faster, yes, but didn't say anything. Primus, the young one Ratbat even helped Starscream at one point!

As Soundwave sensed his leader's rising anger, the tape deck peeked over ever so slightly, just enough to notice that his leader was giving him the Glare of Doom. Why was Soundwave being so obedient to Starscream? Soundwave was scared of what madness might come next from the seeker's warped mind. Even his cassetticons were afraid of Starscream. After the processor upgrades, they had developed a healthy fear towards the red seeker. The event with Ratbat had taught them that if they complied, then they would only receive a mild punishment. Even the constructicons wouldn't go near the seeker.

Before Megatron could demand an explanation from the tape deck, the familiar sound of thrusters was heard accompanied by the sound of eight others. Bots looked up to see the three seeker trines land. The rainmakers and cone heads stood behind the command trine with arms behind them, looking at the ground. By Starscream's side were his trine mates, who also had their hands behind their backs. The only thing that gave the other bots any idea that something was up was Thundercracker's sympathetic look and Skywarp's gleeful one.

"Right, you femmes, it's been a long day of trainin', and even if y'all still suck slag, at least now ya'll can do it better… barely." The exhausted group of bots glared at the red seeker. "Now all that's left is one more thing t'do, then we can head back."

Bots mumbled between themselves at this. They were all dead tired from the long day of running, shooting, exercising and generally dodging all the shots that Starscream felt he needed to fire. "Can't we just head back now?"

"Come on, Starscream, we've been training all day."

"I can't even feel my pedes."

"Slag your pedes, that shooting session left my gun useless."

"You're useless if you think that shooting session was hard. You try doing pushups while getting shot at!"

"USELESS? I'LL SHOW YOU USELESS!"

"SILENCE!"

Everyone turned and quieted down as Megatron's voice roared over their bickering. "No more of this, _Starscream!_" The seeker's name came out as a hiss. "We're heading back now, no more of this."

Even Soundwave couldn't find a way for Starscream to get out of it. Their processor aches had finally ended and they were running better then they had in vorns thanks to the upgrades. Was there anything the seeker could do to stop them?

Megatron only glared harder when Starscream started laughing. "Of course, Commander, I was goin' ta let ya get back to th' ship anyway." Bots backed away when the trines moved to stand side by side to one another, standing in one long line. "Just, while headin' to the ship ya'll gotta do something else as well, yeah."

Bots looked in horror as the seekers moved their servos out in front of them to reveal each one holding two large guns each, "Dodge."

The next breems were filled with utter chaos as bots scattered, running anywhere and everywhere to get away from the crazy seekers. Bots crashed through the trees as the sound of thrusters filled the air as well as the firing of weapons. Normally the Decepticons would be firing back, but Starscream was not a self-proclaimed genius for nothing; the shooting sessions had left their guns out of energy, and thus defenseless against the flying fighters.

The bots were getting shot down all around as the seekers attacked from the air, leaving them no place to hide. Starscream was not trying to kill them though. No, humiliating them was what he was aiming for. He had filled the guns with paint balls that had an electric charge. Not only did it hurt when they got struck by them, but they left a tingling feeling, distracting them like crazy and causing them to stumble.

Astrotrain was taken down fast and hard. So were the other bots who thought it was smart to take to the air against seekers. He had taken to the air when the guns were revealed. That turned into a huge mistake when all the seekers did so as well—he couldn't count the number of times he'd been shot along with the other bots. Especially in the aft by Skywarp… was the black and purple seeker trying to tell him something?

The constructicons were shot repeatedly by the cone heads and rainmakers for their earlier comments and now didn't even match colors with each other. Joining together was an even worse idea as Starscream commanded the seekers to shoot certain sensitive areas, causing the larger bot to crumble and separate again, which got them shot again anyway. The stunticons and other combiners fell they same way. How Starscream knew their weak spots was worrisome.

Soundwave released his cassetticons and made a break for it only to get shot on the back of the head by Starscream. '_That will teach you for reading my mind,' _thought Starscream. Ravage was hunted down by Thrust who was still angry from when she chewed up his favorite cleaning rag—shot her on the leg, causing her to go crashing into a bush. Frenzy and Rumble were hunted down by the rainmakers for their latest pranks. Their original color schemes couldn't even be seen any more. Buzzsaw and Lazerbeak were taken down swiftly by Thundercracker, and Ratbat was strangely overlooked by the seekers.

Megatron was the one who had made it the farthest until the sounds of flying seekers came after him. He watched in paranoia as the rainmakers and cone heads made a pass over him without so much as a glance, aiming for other close by bots. Of course Starscream would want to be the one who hunted him down. With a growl he took off faster, but Starscream was not the fastest flyer in the army for nothing. In the middle of an empty clearing Megatron heard the familiar screech of thrusters cut off signaling that the seeker was now on the ground, looking around the clearing Megatron could only see trees and hear the distant screams and swearing of bots.

"Well, well, Commander. Yer not very good at this, are ya?"

Megatron whirled around, trying to locate the source of the voice only to come up with nothing. "Do you think that you won't be punished for this, you traitor?"

"'Traitor'? I ain't no traitor, Commander. I luv this army. This here's only for th' good a the army, can't ya see it?"

"How the slag is this good for the army? Hunting us down and acting like a complete idiot?"

"If even th' Second in Command is not respected, then how is this s'posed t'be an army? Trainin' 'em like this is only makin' them better! I even made new rules an upgraded ya! Don't that make me a great Second in Command?"

"Starscream you have lost your processor! If you think that _this_ will get you more respect, then you have lost all sanity!"

"Maybe ya might think so… but yer not a genius like me, are ya?"

Megatron couldn't help but yelp when a paint ball grazed his pede, "STARSCREAM, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!"

The crunch behind him made the grey transformer freeze. How did Starscream always manage to sneak behind him? "Oh dear, then I might as well add to it since I'm doomed anyway."

Megatron roared as paint ball after paint ball slammed into him… on the aft…

The air was then filled with Megatron's cursing, Starscream's laughing, thrusters activating and gun shots.

**Jazz to command.**

_Prowl here, report progress._

**I have made it onto the island, and am now looking for Mirage.**

_Received. Start search then. Be careful, there was a lot of Decepticon activity reported in that sector before Mirage went missing._

**Acknowledged, no Decepticons in sight, but will be on the lookout, Jazz out.**

The grey and blue transformer stealthily made his way past the beach and into the trees. Breems before there had been massive Decepticon activity reported in the area, and no one knew what they were up to. The report said that nearly all the Con troops had been sent out, so something was up. Mirage was deployed to find out what had happened, but shortly after arriving, his last report stated that he was seeing a battle of sorts, and then the transmission cut off. With no response from the spy bot, Jazz was sent to see what had happened to his teammate, accompanied by Bumblebee. Well…Jazz more or less demanded to be deployed to rescue his saboteur teammate, and Bumblebee wanted to help as well. Never leave a teammate behind.

"Do you think that Mirage is alright, Jazz?"

"I'm sure he's fine, Bee," Jazz comforted Bee. "His signal is still strong, and says he's still on the island. He's probably just stuck somewhere or something, you know?"

"I hope so. Hound would be spark broken if he wasn't. I wonder what could've happened."

"We'll find out, Bee, even if we have to take on the slag maker, Megatron, himself."

With a nod they set off towards the signal beacon. All around, the trees were splashed with different colors, trees were broken and collapsed, there were scorch marks that Jazz recognized as Seeker thruster marks when they launched into the air, and all the animals in the area were gone. The marks showed that it had all happed recently. Must have been the Decepticons, but what were they doing?

"Jazz, I scanned the colors, and it is just paint."

"Paint?"

"Uh huh. They seem to have a small current in them, but other than that it's just normal paint."

"Hmmm. From the battle marks, it looks like the troops we're running from… the seekers?" Jazz rubbed his chin in confusion. "Why would the seekers attack their own troops? Why didn't any of the troops fire back?"

"Maybe it has something to do with Starscream?"

"It could be, Bumblebee, with him dressin' up like Ratchet an all, but how did he get all the seekers to do this? They barely listen to him in battle."

"Do you think that Mirage got caught in the middle of what was going on?"

"Probably, but we gotta find him first. He might know what happened here."

Both bots nodded at each other then continued heading to the center of the island where the signal was coming from. When they were close they took hiding positions behind the nearby tree cover. Jazz motioned Bumblebee to hold position.

**Jazz to command.**

_Optimus here, what is your status?_

**We've just reached the area where the signal is coming from, just about to enter.**

_Be careful, Jazz with so many Decepticons there before, who knows if any are left._

**Still no word from Cosmos on who can be there?**

_The scans report only Mirage is there, and Cosmos reports that the trees cover any visual coverage. Only his pedes can be seen, and from what he can see, Mirage isn't moving._

**That's not good… How's Hound taking it?**

_He's worrying but alright…_

**Right, we're going in, we'll be careful Prime. Jazz out.**

With a nod to Bumblebee, Jazz and Bumblebee prepared themselves. They ran past the tree line and landed in the clearing in defensive position with guns out. When they saw that there were no Decepticons around, they looked to the ground of the clearing… to burst out in laugher, clutching at their sides.

"Oh, ha ha, this is so funny." Mirage ground out dryly.

"O-Oh P-P-Primus! M-Mirage! H-how?" Mirage was barely able to understand Jazz as the mech stuttered out mid-laughter.

"I would be glad to explain…WHEN YOU STOP LAUGHING AND HELP ME!"

"I-I-I c-ca-can't s-s-stop, J-Jazz h-he-help!"

"S-s-sorry B-B-Bee I c-c-can't s-stop either!"

Much later, when the two bots finally calmed down, now cycling air through their systems, they crawled over to the lying mech. "Soooo~ how did this happen?"

Mirage cycled his vents in a longsuffering sigh before beginning his tale. "When I got here, the Decepticon troops were resting and drinking energon. All I got from them was that they were training, but the way they were complaining, Starscream apparently ordered a training day for all the bots or something. Then all the seekers came and Starscream announced one last training obstacle."

"But Mirage, how does that explain how you're-?"

"Hush Bee, I was getting to that. As I was saying, all the seekers then pulled out these guns and started shooting all the other Decepticon troops, with paint I think, but it could have been something else with the way the troops were stumbling about. So then I decided to return, but then the cassetticon, Ratbat bumped into me. The cassette's squeak alerted Acidrain, and before I could move, he shot me with his gun."

"It was paint by the way, but with an electric charge. So a cassette crashed into when you were invisible, which alerted a seeker who then painted you so your invisibility became useless, and then continued to keep shooting you?"

"Oh no, when he saw that the paint stuck to me when I was invisible, he alerted the other seekers who were nearby, and they all decided to have a turn as well."

"…I see."

"And because of all the shots that hit me, the electric charged had overloaded my motor circuits, and now I can't move. As a joke, Starscream also disabled my comm. system."

"…I see."

There was silence until both Bumblebee and Jazz once again burst out into laugher. Who wouldn't laugh if they saw a brightly multicolored Mirage lying in the middle of a paint puddle, unable to move? The seekers even had time to stop and carve some witty, and some horribly crude sayings, and pictures into the paint.

"We'll help you get home, Mirage."

When they got back to the ARK, Mirage did not feel any better when all the mechs that came out to greet him, who were at first worried about him, then start laughing their systems into overload when they saw what had happened. It also didn't help when their laughing attracted more bots to see what was going on. Mirage only felt better when Hound pulled him into a tight hug and helped him clean up… once he had stopped laughing.

Back at the Nemesis, most of the bots were in the wash racks trying to get the paint off. The only bots missing were the seekers, who were all having a party in their quarters. The cone heads were dancing and singing drunkenly on the table, the rainmakers were knocked out after a drinking contest, Skywarp was hitting on Thundercracker, and Thundercracker was drunkenly daydreaming. Starscream was in the middle of it all, nursing his high grade with a smirk on his face. This was one thing he liked about that gung-ho Ironhide—the liking to drink high grade and get drunk!

"Today was fun!" Skywarp chirped holding onto Thundercracker's arm. "Especially with that Autobot coming to play!"

"Yeah, Dirge, you were so lucky to get him!"

"It wasn't luck it was skill, Thrust!"

"Skill or what, we got that Autobot good! You think that he's still there?"

"Nah, they probably picked him up already."

"H-Hey! St-Star what's n-next y-yeah?"

"Hmmm?"

"Yeah, yeah! Starscream what's for tomorrow?"

"Tell us, tell us."

"Who's it gonna be tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow hmmm? That'll be a secret ma fellow seekers, but fer now… MORE HIGH GRADE!"

Cheering filled the quarters as another round of high grade went around. In the middle of it all was a smirking red seeker. Another day was coming… another day of complete and utter fun.


	5. Music be the food for the Spark

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 5:**** Part 4, Music be the Food for the Spark**

In a dark lab, deep within the depths of the Nemesis came the sound of frustrated growls. In the center of the lab shone only a single dim light, and within its shine was a mech working over a glowing data pad. What made this mech different from the others were the two metal wings that expanded past his frame which were now twitching in agitation. With another growl, the mech threw the pad cross the room and into a wall, shattering it to pieces. Huffing angrily, the mech just glared at the wreckage.

"…Star?" A soft voice echoed in the empty lab. Starscream redirected his glare at the new black and purple arrival.

"What?"

"…You've been here all morning… Are you alright?"

"NO, I'M NOT!" screeched the red seeker in indignation. He huffed furiously and treaded towards the doors, "Take over my shift, I need to go and gather information!"

"But you have a meeting later! If Megatron doesn't see you there, he's gonna slag you to bits!"

The red seeker just stopped and slowly turned to leer expectantly at the black seeker. Said seeker went silent and just nodded. "Err… Or I can distract him to give you time?"

"Hrmm. Smart bot. Use the cone heads or rainmakers if you need to. I'll be back."

The black seeker breathed a sigh of relief—Starscream wasn't going to kill him. Now all he had to do was think of a distracting prank… Hey, he actually had permission! ... Kind of… Well, it was good enough for Skywarp anyway.

An annoyed Starscream tapped his foot impatiently as the lift rose towards the surface of the ocean. It was easy to get out of the Nemesis when the rainmakers were on shift; one look at his body posture and they were racing to get him out. When it finally did reach the surface, the red seeker immediately took off into the air in his sleek plane form as he headed north with amazing speed. He wasn't called the fastest seeker alive for nothing.

Why was Starscream so annoyed, one might ask? Well, for the last few days he had been imitating the commanders of the Autobot ranks, wreaking havoc and chaos on the Nemesis, and magnificently annoying the slag out of Megatron… But the next Autobot he had in mind, he knew little to nothing about.

'Ugh, what does he even do? He's a fragging hippie—always calm, knows everything about anything… but what else?' Thought the red seeker slashing through the clouds. 'I barely see that slagger in battle, much less out of it.'

The seeker laid on another burst of speed before slowing down and rising to a higher altitude. 'Field research, ugh. Like I have nothing better to do with my time… but annoying Megatron is _so~oo_ much _fun_!' A sadistic smile graced his lip plates. 'The dilemma, the dilemma…'

When he reached a height that was effectively out of detection range, he scanned the area looking for any bots. This was a well known Autobot patrol route, and Starscream knew there would be a patrol round coming sooner or later. When that happened, he would just… _borrow_ one of the bots, and 'ask' for the information he needed—a simple enough plan, nothing too big. 'Just need to pick up the right bot…,' thought the seeker, swerving to scour another area. 'Now where the pits are those Autobots? Never there when you need them.'

Just then Starscream heard the distant sounds of engines. He revved his thrusters in joy as he zoomed towards the source area, and carefully perched, hidden behind some rocks. Peeking over the large rocks, Starscream tried to identify the oncoming cars. There were four of them racing along the desert roads. From what Starscream could tell, two of them were the Lamborghini twins. The seeker shuddered involuntarily; he definitely did not want to pick those two crazies with their jet judo. There was also a green jeep—an Autobot whose name he'd never bothered to memorize before—the bot who projected the holograms. Starscream considered him for a moment, but a cursory glance over the mech's frame told him that the bot would be too bulky and heavy for the seeker to pick up. Then lastly came a small, yellow bug.

_Bingo! _

That bug was Bumbling… something… never mind the name. Starscream knew that the little bot was one of those who worked directly under the command of the mech he needed to learn more about, and that was all that mattered. Now… all he had to do was separate him from the others… With a smirk, Starscream quickly moved into position within the surrounding valley, and he waited till they got closer. From his position he could hear them talking.

"Man, look at the view."

"Primus Hound, it's just rocks."

"If you want something to look at, it's me."

"Sorry, I already have Mirage, and what a great aft he is~."

"So vain, Sunny."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT OR I WILL SLAG YOU, SIDES."

"Come on, guys. Calm down. We're almost done with this patrol route, so can we please try to get along?"

"Come on Bee, it's so boring! Nothing ever happens on patrol. What I would give to at least see a seeker, right Sunshine?"

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP THAT!... But yeah, it's been a while since we had a good battle with the Decepticons."

"We should be grateful for the time off, right Bee?"

"Yeah… But the thing with Mirage was funny."

"Hehehe, take that towers mech!"

"Those seekers were lousy artists; none of those colors were right."

"…Can you please just get over it now?"

"Not until something interesting happens."

"Ya called for fun~?" All four vehicles swerved to a screeching halt and transformed into their bipedal modes. Four sets of blue optics looked up to see a jovially smirking Starscream with an indigo visor stylishly twinkling in the sunlight. "Looks like Primus has answered your prayers, Autobots, cuz he's sent you the most handsome bot around to entertain ya."

The bots stared in awestruck wonder, their processors stalled trying to process his sentence. The Lamborghinis were the first to snap out of it. "Well what do you know? It's Screamer, the most annoying of the Decepti-scum."

"Now, now, bots. No need for such offensive language. I was just flyin' by and heard your cry for help." Now the Autobots _knew_ that something was up. "I'm here to relieve you of your last dull moments of boredom till you have to go back to that ugly colored ship o' yours. You jus' gotta catch me first. And remember: keep your eyes on the prize—that is, me, the great and wonderful Starscream!" With that the seeker flew off around the corner, laughing maniacally.

"Should we follow? It could be a trap."

"Starscream sure is acting weird."

"Who cares? It's Starscream asking for a slagging!"

"You said it, Sunny! I say we go after him! Last one there is a femme!" With that, both Lamborghinis transformed with an enthusiastic 'whoop!' and raced off after the seeker.

Bumblebee held back uncertainly. "What do you think we should do, Hound?"

Hound scratched his helm deliberatively before letting out a gust of air. "We'd best follow those two—you know how much trouble they can get into by themselves."

With a nod, both transformed and chased after the dust trails of the red and yellow Lamborghinis. After some moments, they managed to catch up with the two twins, who had stopped at a clearing.

"Which way did that slagger go?" Sideswipe asked as the path they faced split up into three trails. "Hound, you got a clue?"

"Hmm… from the cliff face, he couldn't fly over the rocks cause they're too narrow up there… There! Scorch marks! He must of did a sharp turn and swerved into there."

"Nice going, Hound! Seeker, get ready for some jet judo!"

"Not bad for a scout."

"I don't think he meant that, Hound."

"I know, Bee."

Both Lamborghinis raced down the path while Hound and Bee took a slower approach. "Don't you think this is weird, Hound?"

"With Starscream? He's always been a strange bot. With this though?... I think he's definitely up to something."

"A Decepticon ambush?"

"Nah, they would've attacked us already. What I wanna know, is why go through the trouble to get our attention like that? He had the higher ground and the element of surprise. With those nullrays, he coulda had us if he really wanted… But it also brings up the question of why he would go after bots like us, we're just front liners, capturing us won't get any Autobot secrets or anything."

"… The Decepticons have been acting kinda strange lately."

"We just have to watch out for whatever Starscream's planning. He may be a strange bot for sure, but he's brilliant."

"Why, thank ya, Hound~! That was so sweet of ya ta say." Both the jeep and bug quickly transformed and looked up to see a smirking seeker. "But Hound… I'ma 'fraid you're still underestimatin' meh just a bit. 'Rocks are too narrow?' I _am_ the smallest seeker after all."

Starscream then slammed his thrusters into the rocks under him and shot off his nullrays at the rock face. One shuddering impact later, and the whole rock formation started to collapse, causing a rock slide. Both Autobots moved to dodge the incoming rock shards and ended up on the opposite sides of an enormous rock pile. They finally took out their guns and fired at Starscream, but their efforts had no effect; the seeker had chosen his spot well. From the angle and depth they were positioned at, a direct hit on the seeker was impossible.

**Sunstreaker! Sideswipe! Starscream has us pinned! Return immediately!**

_Gotcha Hound, hold on! That slagger Starscream planted a bunch of cluster bombs around the trail we were driving through. We'll have to go around or else this whole valley might just become a memory!_

**Slag! Starscream must've planned this from the very beginning!**

_You're telling me. When I get my hands on that slagger…!_

**I'm radioing base, hurry Sideswipe! Hound to base.**

_Redalert responding. What has happened? Your group has strayed from the designated patrol path._

**It was Starscream, he came out of nowhere and we trailed him into the valley. We're now under attack and split up.**

_Primus…! Hold on, reinforcements are on their way._

**Thanks, Hound out.**

"Don't worry, Bee, we got bots coming."

"Oh, that's nice. Bots looking after bots, but there is one bot that I just can't let get away." The seeker took off, rocketing towards the yellow bug.

"BUMBLEBEE!"

The yellow bug tried to shoot at Starscream, but one well placed shot from the seeker's null ray sent the gun wheeling out of his hands. Bumblebee yelped as Starscream swooped in for the grab and carried him off, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I jus' need to borrow ya for a bit, little Bee." Bumblebee wriggled in Starscream's arms, trying to break free. "Oh, can't have you doin' that! Ya might get hurt." With this, the Seeker shot his struggling 'guest' with a null ray, and smiled pleasantly as it made the bug go limp in his grasp. He then handcuffed him. "There, much better. LATER AUTOBOTS~!" He jeered as he rocketed away with his prize.

As Starscream took off he noticed the Lamborghinis racing down the path and the distant shapes of more transformers coming. Unfortunately for them, Starscream was much too fast and far away for them to ever catch him now. 'When you're good, you are ohhh~ so good. And Megatron thinks _I _shouldn't be leader, hmph.'

Hound, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker helplessly watched as the seeker sped off with their comrade, flying off into the mountains. "Frag! That pit spawned seeker! When I get my hands on him, I'll strip him of all his paint and make him eat his own legs!"

"What the slag could he want with Bee? You'd think with all the Jet judo we do, he'd be after us!"

"We have to follow them; there's no telling what he could be doing with Bee."

Fortunately at that moment, reinforcements finally arrived in the form of Skyfire, Cliffjumper, Mirage and Bluestreak. Everyone immediately set off in the direction Starscream had taken. They were all worried about what the seeker had planned for their small, yellow friend. Seekers were notoriously crazy, after all. After a few breems, they reached a large mountain.

"You think that seeker scum took Bee there, Mirage?"

"His signal says so. For whatever reason, Starscream did not see fit to disable Bee's personal homing beacon."

"I can see why. It's impossible to drive up this mountain—we can only climb. That doesn't look like an easy task either, and climbing is my thing."

"When I get my hands on that flybot, he'll get a taste of my blasters."

"Yeah, like he's really afraid of you, short aft."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? TAKE THAT BACK, YOU SUNFLOWER!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"

"Wait, wait! We should'nt fight! Bee's up there all alone with a seeker—Starscream even. He's the second in command and really, really, really crazy! Who knows what he could be doing to the him! He could be performing an experiment on him, or testing a new weapon, or reprogramming him, or making him into a spy, or-"

"We understand, Bluestreak. I will fly up there to try and find them. You all should start climbing." Skyfire interrupted politely.

The shuttle took off up towards the mountain's peak while the others started climbing, all of them wondering the same thing: what could Starscream possibly want with Bumblebee?

"Hey little bot, wake up." Bumblebee was shaken awake by the red seeker. "I need some information."

When Bumblebee finally regained full awareness, he looked up and stammered, "Where are we? Where have you taken me? Why me?"

"Hush you jabber bot." Starscream put a finger to Bumblebee's lips, making the little yellow bot cringe and move away. "We're not that far away from where I took you. I only need you for information."

"I'll tell you nothing, Decepticon!"

"Oh, so dramatic," sighed Starscream as he took a seat on a nearby rock. "I don't want any Autobot codes or anything. I just want to know a little bit about a certain bot."

"I'll never let you hurt them!" Bumblebee started struggling against the cuffs rolling on his side. "I'll never betray the trust they have in me."

"It's not going to hurt them in any way," huffed Starscream, wings fluttering impatiently. "I just want to know some general knowledge about him—what he likes, dislikes, personality traits—things like that."

"…do you like this someone on the Autobot side or-"

"OH SLAG NO! This has to do with something completely different than that. Disgusting little pit spawned…" Starscream grumbled at his momentary lapse, and took a deep, calming cycle of air to try and get back into character. "No, I just need to know the basics of how he acts to… Well… You saw when I was Ratchet, correct?"

"…Yeah…"

"Yes, it's like that, and that's all you need to know. Now I need you to tell me about the Autobot… what was it?... Oh yes, _Jazz_. Tell me about Jazz."

"…Why are you acting like Autobots?"

"I told you, you don't need to know why. Just answer my questions and make it easier on us both."

"Why should I? You're the one who tried to blow up the whole valley with your cluster bombs! My friends are probably coming for me right now. You can't do anything that will make me tell you. This could be some secret Decepticon plot or something."

"Those cluster bombs were duds. I just wanted to make sure those pit spawned twins wouldn't interrupt me. Now tell me! …Or I'll find _other_, more _interesting_ ways to make you talk!" The seeker's claws then latched onto Bumblebee's legs, and dragged the yellow mech under the towering seeker. "…And trust me, you _won't_ enjoy it… but _I_ will."

Bumblebee's hysterical screams quickly echoed throughout the mountain range. Skyfire nearly stalled in the air when he heard, but quickly regained his bearings and redirected his flight path in the general direction of the scream. The ground bots were only encouraged to move faster.

Starscream cringed before silencing Bumblebee with a servo. "Hey! Stop screaming! I haven't even DONE anything yet and you're screaming your head off."

Starscream looked closer at the minibot's expression, and realized why he screamed. "Oh Primus! You think I was going to have my wicked way with you?" Starscream instantly released him and pulled away laughing. "You wish, minibot! Like I would ever go that low."

He chuckled as Bumblebee panted and sat back up. "I was just scaring you. I'm not that type of bot… except for my trine… Just make it easier on us and tell me his hobbies already."

"…If I do, will you let me go?"

"Yes. I have no real need of you."

"…He likes music."

"Music?"

"Yeah music, dancing, human slang and… yeah…"

"Hmm… I can work with that." Starscream removed the cuffs and picked up Bumblebee again. "Stop struggling or I will drop you, and that won't be pretty."

Hanging limply, Bumblebee could only whimper as Starscream took off. "I thought you said I could leave."

"I know but from that spot I took you, it would be impossible for any ground bots to get there and likely no air ones are coming yet…" Starscream trailed off as something caught his sensors. "Or I could be wrong. Looks like they did send a flyer. Heh."

Now Starscream redirected his flight path to meet with the flyer just as the white shuttle burst through the cloud cover. Both fliers stopped and hovered closely, eying one another. "Bumblebee, has Starscream harmed you?"

"Oh, you break my spark, Skyfire." Starscream repositioned his grip on Bumblebee who let out a nervous squeak. "I've done nothing to the little Bee, but I must say, I'm not used to holding another bot, so taking him now would be wise."

Warily moving closer, Bumblebee traded hands and was now in Skyfire's care. Starscream patted Bumblebee's head as Skyfire secured his hold. "I just needed to borrow him for a bit. He was helpful."

"…Starscream, what are you planning?"

"Nothing really, old friend. Just some revenge and such…" Starscream turned around and transformed. "I trust you're not low enough to shoot me in the back."

"Star!"

The seeker sighed and transformed again to turn and face the big shuttle. "What I'm planning has nothing to do with harming any Autobots—just marking my position in the Decepticon army." Turning away, he transformed once more and readied his thrusters. "Remember that annoying mech that was trying to teach us sub atomic space particles? _That's_ what I'm doing."

With that, Starscream blasted off, leaving behind a bewildered Bumblebee and a very relieved Skyfire. "What is he talking about Skyfire?"

"I'll explain to you later. For now, we must get you back to base." With a humored smile, the shuttle radioed base and headed down to the ground. He was sure that Bumblebee had had enough of the air.

Returning to base, Starscream quickly went down the lift to meet with… complete and utter chaos. Bots were running here and there, painted with some kind of slime. Screeching heavy metal blasted throughout the halls, and the walls were covered in pictures depicting seeker superiority. With one look at the chaos through his visor, Starscream only paused to take a few pictures and then headed to his lab.

**Skywarp! Where are you and Thundercracker?**

_Star! You're back! …Umm… Us and the other seekers are hiding in the west wing storage room 0752._

**You and the rest of the seekers?**

_You did say I could use them._

…**Hmm, I can work with this… What about the meeting?**

_Still scheduled as normal… Megatron might be pissed though._

**Forget him. You and the other seekers move to my lab, and get the silver, blue and white paint ready! I need a new paint job, and I need you and the other seekers to learn something if my plan is to be completed.**

_As you command, Star!_

Smirking, the red seeker made his way across the ship. Lights, camera, action!

...He still did not like those human phrases.

To say Megatron was angry was the understatement of the stellar cycle. He was beyond rage—He was in such a state of holy wrath, that if the Autobot army had been there, they would have already been already running for the hills. What was his anger directed at? Seekers. If Starscream wasn't up to something then it was Skywarp, but he really out did himself this cycle.

Megatron was still trying to get the paint off his body, especially his aft, when he received a comm. stating that the airlock had been opened. Moving to the command room he found out that the slagging rainmakers had let out Starscream. Yelling and beating them around got no answers for where Starscream was headed or what he was up to. After relieving them and placing someone else on the monitors he sat in his throne with a groan. Breems later with no warning, heavy music started to blast through the base, causing many bots to shoot things in shock, and attack one another. To make it worse, the ship's vents then decided to start spewing out green slime, only causing the fighting to become a wrestling match just to stay upright. Roaring in anger Megatron ran out of the command room to see the seekers painting something on the walls.

Megatron knew that this was something that Skywarp had pulled off, it just screamed of Skywarp's work, but Starscream must have had a hand in it or else the rainmakers and the cone heads wouldn't have been involved. When the meeting started then Starscream would pay dearly as would the other seeker trines. The table was quiet as the bots gathered did not dare make a sound. Hook, Soundwave, Blackout, Reflector, and Blitzwing sat around the table scared stiff at the dark aura that Megatron was sending off in waves from the head of the table.

_Soundwave, ma buddy!_

Soundwave nearly jumped in surprise at the unexpected comm.—He was even more surprised that it was from Starscream. **Correction: not your 'buddy.' Query: where is your location? Threat: you are late for the meeting, and Megatron is angry.**

_Oh Soundwave, ya break my fragile spark. Of course you're ma buddy! __Hey watch what you're doing there__- Anyway I need you ta do me a favor in th' meeting yeah, ma buddy?_

**Response: Negative. Starscream's plans always defective.**

_Awww, but buddy- __Watch it, that's cold!__- it's not like the favor will hurt you or anything, it'll just make things more interesting._

**Response: Negative.**

_Oh fine then my no longer buddy. I was going to spare you from now on, but if you really think that way then fine._

**Wait! Spare me?**

_Well, cause you'd be doin' me a favor, cause you're my friend, so I'd see no need to involve ya anymore. But as you said: you don't want to._

…**Query: what is the favor?**

_Oh, so _now_ you're my buddy? Only when there's somethin' in it for you? I don't know. You were pretty mean before, man… sayin' you're not my friend an all…_

…**Statement: …we are buddies… Query: what did you need?**

_Oh Soundwave, that's great! I just knew that deep down you liked me! You'll see, we'll be the bestest of buddies ever! Oh, the favor. Right. Well, just keep your senses on me; I'll give you some orders in the meeting. Oh Soundie, you're mah best friend!_

Soundwave shuddered for real this time, ignoring the weird looks he got from the other mechs. He had just made a deal with what seemed like the pit master, but after the last few cycles it really seemed like a blessing.

_**I think you did the right thing, boss. Starscream's gone crazy, and goin' with the flow seems less painful than goin' against it.**_

The other cassetticons agreed with Frenzy. They were tired of Starscream's pranks now more than ever, especially now since it seemed like he had the other seekers under his command. Ratbat just chirped in confusion as to why the other cassetticons didn't just listen to Starscream from the beginning; the last few cycles had been fun for him.

"Soundwave! What is the location of that treacherous seeker?"

Soundwave jumped and looked over at Megatron, blinking, and then looking forward again. Megatron gave him a suspicious look for it. "Location: Starscream heading towards command room. Ten astroseconds out."

"Finally, that slagging seeker. When I get my servos on him-"

Megatron was cut off however when the command door was slammed open and a silver blur entered and stood with servos outwards and head tilted back at the end of the table. "You, my fine, fine mechs have prayed for a sleek and beautiful seeker. I have heard your dear, dear prayers and have came as fast as I could you grace you with my presence."

The mechs around the table cringed, recognizing the unique and well known paint scheme. Starscream was painted like Jazz and they could only guess what that could lead to. "Starscream, I don't know what you're thinking, but it ends here!"

"Commander, calm down, you're so tense. Ya need ta relax." Starscream moved around the table, cleverly avoiding the angry gunformer. "I wasn't plannin' anything. Just had to go and do some investigatin'."

"I don't care for your excuses," roared the fuming gunformer. He was sick and tired of Starscream's pranks, and he was going to end them once and for all, NOW. "If you think that you can continue on with this ridiculous charade then you are glitching!"

Starscream couldn't help but let out a yelp as the blast from the fusion cannon just missed his helm. 'Ohhh, Megatron is _mad,'_ thought Starscream, his mind racing on how to get out of this situation. Ducking and moving rapidly around the table to avoid Megatron, the seeker quickly came up with a plan. "But Megatron, commander! This was all just to help the team, cause you know there is no 'I' in team."

"How the slag does this at all help our goals?" growled Megatron, finally grabbing onto the seekers wing, and gripping it tightly enough to make the seeker cringe in pain. "All you have been doing is sabotaging our mechs and brain washing the rest."

Starscream couldn't help that his wings started shaking as Megatron's optics met his, promising a painful punishment if the next words out of Starscream's vocalizer were not satisfactory. "I have only been helpin' them, commander—the rules ta make sure they don't harm themselves, th' processor upgrades to make sure they're fit and up ta code, th' trainin' to get their moral and skills up to pass. Commander, all I do is to enhance our skills and get us closer to our goals. Ya can't say that you and the others aren't fighting and working better than ever before." Begging and groveling right now seemed the only way to distract Megatron from blasting a hole in his wing at the moment, no matter how much he hated it.

"All this, through the humiliation and suffering of our reputation!" Megatron's grip tightened, causing the seeker to fall to his knees in pain. "Give me one good reason not to slag you right here in front of these mechs, and then leave your remains at their mercy? I know that the constructicons would love to get their servos on you."

"A reason? Yes, yes I have one commander! I swear it, but please commander ya have ta let go of ma wing, den I can tell ya," Starscream begged, twisting to alleviate the pressure on his screaming wing. "I promise, commander, that it's a good one!"

Growling in anger, Megatron pierced his claws through the seekers wing. Starscream let out a howl of pain as the claws scraped against a sensor cluster, before being thrown to the floor to allow his reply. Nothing better than to have Starscream begging and on his knees to spare his miserable existence in front of other mechs to put the seeker back into his place. Not that he wasn't going to slag the seeker anyway. Starscream clutched his wing for a click before shakily rising onto his pedes and moving to lean against a consol. He looked at the table full of glaring mechs and cleared his vocalizer before speaking. "Ya see commander, the reason that you can't slag me and send me to the pit right now is dat…"

The command bots stared curiously as Starscream seemed to struggle with his words. They thought that the seeker couldn't come up with a good reason, and smirked in anticipation of the punishment that Megatron would give. "Y-ya see commander, how can I say this? …Workin' under you in this army for so long has lead to… err some developments." Starscream grinned nervously at the bots before pacing back and forth. "You see, when you're with some bot for so long, you get to notice some things and… well, yeah…"

"Get on with it, Starscream," growled Megatron, not knowing what to expect. Starscream was always nervous when he was about to be slagged but usually he would be begging now rather than blathering on like an idiot. He got the feeling it was a bad idea to allow the seeker to explain himself.

"Right, right commander. Well, our relationship has always been strained, as you can see." The bots at the table couldn't help but tense at the word relationship. What Decepticon uses that word? Unless… "And through da stellar cycles at being by your side, through the battles and fights I can't help but admit that I have… that is ta say… well I, umm… oh this is so hard! The only way I can tell you what I feel is if, through this- with the help of- oh I have to take this chance!"

To the surprise of the other bots the seeker then launched in to the air and was now standing on the consol, striking a pose, with head held high and pointing to the ceiling, one servo pointed into the air and the other on the seeker's painted hip with his wings spread wide. "I can only tell you the way that communicates with the spark!" declared Starscream before sending a look at Soundwave.

"_We're no strangers to love~," _the bots at the table nearly jumped away when the cassette bot burst out in music. Soundwave could only inch away from Megatron, who was staring at him in shock.

"_You know the rules, and so do I~,"_ Hook couldn't help but stare in small wonder at how Starscream could get his vocals that low. The larger part of his mind was frozen in horror at the idea of a singing Starscream.

"_A full commitment is what I'm thinking of~," _the reflector trio were now staring in complete and utter horror as Starscream started to sway to the beat, was there time to escape?

"_You wouldn't get this from any other bot~,"_ Blitzwing was already rocking back and forth trying to deny the reality of a singing and dancing Starscream—he was at home, on Cybertron, drinking high grade and watching a femme dance—not watching Starscream shake his thin and curvy hips-AHHHH.

"_I~ just wanna tell you how I'm feeling~," _Megatron would never admit it, but he had backed away as the swaying seeker moved closer to him and got on his knees, reaching for the retreating gunner.

"_Gotta make you understand~,"_ with a dramatic smirk, Starscream quickly swept up to his pedes with a dramatic turn with his wings to the frozen bots. A displaced 'bang' disrupted the beat as the other five seekers, Skywarp, Thundercracker and the rainmakers, of Starscream's command appeared. To the other bots horror they were sporting the same pose as the painted silver flyer.

"_Never gonna give you up~,_

_Never gonna let you down~,_

_Never gonna run around and desert you~,_

_Never gonna make you cry~,_

_Never gonna say goodbye~,_

_Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you~."_

Even Soundwave couldn't help but gape at the six dancing seekers that moved in complete harmony, servos moving, pedes shifting, hips gyrating and wings twitching. The six seekers moved around the room in sync, shifting to point at the gun former whenever the lyric 'never' occurred.

Starscream—ever the one for attention—broke away from the group, spinning forward to stop in front of a shocked Megatron who moved to fire upon the seeker, only for his fusion cannon to be caught by the small seekers quick servos and thrown across the room, and have his then frozen servos be held _oh_ so gently. _"We've known each other for so long~," _

Megatron quickly yanked his servos away only for the silver seeker to step closer and trace the leaders chassis with his sharp claws, _"Your spark's been aching but you're too shy to say it~,"_

Jerking back, the gunformer tried to put some space between him and the approaching seeker, but Starscream wouldn't let that happen. Taking another step in Megatron's personal space, the seeker tilted his head to the panicking bot's face plates. _"Inside we both know what's been going on~,"_

Ready to just grab the seeker and beat him to slag, Megatron lunged to grab the seeker only for the silver flyer to step back and twist out of the way. _"We know the game and we're gonna play it~," _Retreating back to the seeker group, Starscream made sure that he was far enough away from the fuming transformer while talking to the other seekers on the comm. to keep them behaving.

"_And if you ask me how I'm feeling~," _Soundwave was safely hiding behind one of the many consoles now, using the seeker's touching of Megatron as a distraction. He couldn't help shuddering at the sound of the dancing seekers and the dark thoughts that Megatron was now exuding. _"Don't tell me you're too blind to see~,"_

Having had enough of this, Megatron gave one last glare at the silver seeker and at the other five that were dancing in the background before hurrying to the doors, where he was followed by Reflector, Hook, and Blitzwing scrambling after him. Just as he was about to step out, Megatron was pressed back as the cone heads appeared in front of him and started singing and dancing as well.

"_Never gonna give you up~,_

_Never gonna let you down~,_

_Never gonna run around and desert you~,_

_Never gonna make you cry~,_

_Never gonna say goodbye~,_

_Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you~."_

Being shoved back into the command room by the three dancing cone heads, Megatron was then grabbed and spun around to face the silver seeker once more. _"We've known each other for so long~," _Starscream was up close against Megatron's face plates again, causing the gunformer to freeze in fear that if he moved an inch then their lips would—NO! He was not going to think about that!

"_Your spark's been aching, but you're too shy to say it~," _the other shocked bots were grabbed by the dancing seekers and were forced into spinning twirls with them while the other seekers were swaying between the unwillingly swirling bots, grabbing them when they tried to escape.

"_Inside we both know what's been going on~,"_ Megatron's optics widened as Starscream's face plates were getting closer and closer as he felt those claws once again trace his chest where his spark chamber lay hidden. _"We know the game and we're gonna play it~,"_

"_I~ just wanna tell you how I'm feeling~," _whispered the seeker with half closed optics looking into Megatron's wide horror-filled ones. _"Gotta make you understand~."_

"_Never gonna give you up~,_

_Never gonna let you down~,_

_Never gonna run around and desert you~,_

_Never gonna make you cry~,_

_Never gonna say goodbye~,_

_Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you~."_

The seekers altogether did one last dancing move before moving together to a spot and striking a pose signaling the end of the dance while the other unwilling bots were lying on the ground in stasis from all the spinning. Starscream though, was left staring at the wall, onlining and offlining his optics for a click. The silver seeker looked down to see that Megatron's processors had crashed and he was now lying on the ground in stasis until his processors could process what just happened.

"Starscream! You killed him!"

"Nah, Warp, he just couldn't take mah confession and feelings," replied Starscream still in character. "Dis is so sad, he never told me how he felt."

The other seeker couldn't help but shiver at how real Starscream sounded. "…What do we do now?"

"What else does a broken spark-ed bot do?" replied Starscream, moving over to a consol and turning on the microphone for the ships announcement. "Megatron's out of commission right now. Everyone meet in da rec room for some high grade and music. No askin' why!"

Looking at the ground looking sulky the painted seeker moved over to the hiding Soundwave and kneeled down next to the horror-filled blue mech. "He broke mah spark, Soundwave…"

"…My apologies?" Muttered the blue mech, not making any sudden movements.

"Will you play music at my spark broken party?"

"…Yes?"

"You'll play good music to make me feel better?"

"…Yes?"

"Really?"

"…Yes?"

"Oh Soundwave, your ma best buddy! Always lookin' out for me!" Gushed the seeker before spreading out his arms and leaning towards the cowering tape deck. "Hug?"

The blue transformer hesitated before slowly moving to pat the seeker on the back. "…It will be okay?"

"Oh thanks, Sounds. I knew there was a reason for you ta be mah bestest buddy!" Starscream hugged the stiff tape deck around the waist. "Hurry and go now, they might be there already."

Finally freed from the seeker, Soundwave slowly moved towards the doorway backwards, not daring to leave his back to the crazy seekers, as every seeker was watching his every movement. He couldn't help but make a break for it when he was close enough to the doors.

"So, party again?"

"Hmm, yes. You six go and join them. Make sure everyone drinks something and relaxes. Knowing them, they would think I was up to something," replied Starscream, ignoring the comment of 'but you are up to something'. "Thundercracker, Skywarp. I need you to stay here a moment."

The cone heads and rain makers walked out of the room giving the other two seekers sympathetic looks before leaving. Thundercracker looked at the silver painted seeker in gloom while Skywarp just fidgeted, "was there something you needed, Star?"

"I need to discuss my next plans with you."


	6. Battle Plan

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 6:**** Part 5, Battle Plan**

"This feels weird, Star."

"Oh hush, it's not like I'm asking much from both of you."

"That depends on whose perspective you're looking through."

"Suck it up, Thundercracker, and hold your wings still!"

"You look funny, TC!"

"Shut up! We're doing you next, anyway."

"Do I have to, Star? It's so ugly!"

"How do you think _I've_ been feeling for the last several cycles? Yes, you have to!"

"Fine… Err… Don't we have to…?"

"What is it now?"

"You know, later, the plan…"

"I know."

"So we're…"

"Yes."

"And they're gonna see…"

"Yes."

"Oh…"

"…That's just evil on our part."

"That's what I've planned, Thundercracker. There, you're done. Now, Skywarp."

"Eeep!"

Within the walls of the Nemesis, all was going according to the normal schedule. Bots were working at their stations, energon was being accounted for and noted, monitors were being watched, repairs and general creations were being worked on by the constructicons and various bots, fights broke out here and there around the ship, but that was normal behavior. In the command center, a sort of peace had taken over.

Megatron was suspicious.

After the last few cycles, filled with bots getting drunk on high grade, and generally having another party, while he was in stasis, they all woke up to another bout of hangovers and processor aches. After the last time they had something resembling a hangover, the Starscream/Ironhide thing was not to be spoken of again, they were all paranoid this morning about the seekers. Whenever the cone heads or the rainmakers were seen walking down the halls, all bots immediately bolted in the other direction, even when the seekers shouted that they weren't up to anything and looked like they were suffering from hangovers as well. With an aching head, Megatron just sat patiently, waiting for Starscream to strike. He glared at the back of Soundwave's helm the entire time, as he sat on his throne with an aura of death and doom.

So he waited.

And waited.

Nothing.

There was no music blasting through the ship's speakers, no seekers flying around defacing the ship's walls, no explosions or surprise attacks. The rainmakers and the cone heads were working and behaving normally. Starscream and his trine were tracked to his lab, which showed no movement or anything suspicious. Soundwave reported that they weren't doing anything—just talking to one another about something or another—the specifics couldn't be heard as Starscream had built something for eavesdroppers that blurred all sound frequencies. He hadn't left the lab since Megatron had crashed into stasis. He and his trine hadn't even been seen at the party.

Megatron was still guarded though, and still glaring furiously at his Communications Officer that was sitting as far away from the enraged leader as possible.

Breems went by, and no movement from Starscream or his trine. The passing of time lessened and eventually cured his processor ache which improved his mood significantly. Even his glare for Soundwave had eased up. Now that he was able to think more clearly, without the waves of pain clouding his mind, Megatron felt less tense, and was now able to at least do some work.

"Lord Megatron."

The leader looked up his Third in Command that was still facing the security screen, "What is it now?"

"Observation: Commander Starscream has left his lab with his trine."

"Where are they headed?"

"Location: Starscream heading towards his quarters. Trinemates: Thundercracker heading to wash racks, and Skywarp heading to storage rooms."

"Is there anything different about them? Paint schemes? What are they planning, Soundwave?" The piercing glower that accompanied the question made the tape deck shiver.

"Starscream's plan: unknown. Paint schemes unknown as lights near lab are too dark."

"If I find out that you were collaborating with that traitor again, Soundwave…"

"Negative. Soundwave has no knowledge of Starscream's plans."

"Hn, tell me if any of those three make a move! Or this time, you will be slagged along with that fragger."

"As you command." Megatron sent one last glare in his TIC's direction, before furiously looking back at the reports about the energon levels. A raid needed to be planned.

Soundwave, feeling Megatron's attention shift, could only swallow nervously while staring at the security monitors. He hadn't lied when he'd said that the lights in the lab were too dark, but when they walked into the halls however… Well, Soundwave found plenty of good reason to keep his vocalizer shut off. A feeling of doom crept over the Communications Specialist as he quickly opened a comm. link; a certain seeker had just contacted him.

"Damn, looks like energon levels are low again."

"What do you expect with those seekers drinking it all, and then partying yesterday?"

"Who knew Thrust had such a singing voice."

"…I did not just hear that."

"Looks like we're gonna have to do another raid soon, or else start rationing again."

The bots groaned at the thought of rationing their energon; last time they had to do so, they could barely function. In the rec room, bots were lying around, finishing off data reports, and comparing information, betting, drinking, and all in all just resting as the energon levels were too low to allow them to do their normal tasks. Swindle was placing bets and collecting credits. "Anyone wanna guess what Starscream has next in stall for us?"

"Oh Primus, I don't even wanna guess what goes through that slagger's processor."

"Come on, Hook. I know you're mad at him an all."

"And you aren't? He was the one who shot you in the leg with that damned dart."

"And I will forever hate him for it, but a bet's a bet."

"No."

"Oh, come on! Bet on who he'll act like next."

"No."

"Scrapper?"

"I don't really care, maybe Optimus himself, probably."

"Scrapper, don't encourage him."

"Jazz?"

"He's done that."

"What about Sentinel?"

"Like the pit, he will."

"Okay mechs! Place your bets! Who will Starscream be, and how will he torture us today!"

"That's just morbid, Swindle."

"Credits are credits."

Some bots placed their bets while most just ignored the greedy gambler; no one really wanted to think about what the seeker had planned next. While all the bots were busy with their own personal activities, the entrance of a yellow mech went unnoticed within the recreation center… That is, until Swindle nearly got hit in the face with said mech's yellow wings—_after_ being shoved. "What the slag, Kicker! Watch it! Just cause you owe me—Sunstorm?" Swindle gawped. "What the pits are you doing on Earth?"

All the Decepticons, Insecticons, Constructicons, Stunticons, and even the Combaticons looked over in interest, wondering what Shockwave's seeker was doing here on Earth. Did Megatron call for reinforcements? The yellow seeker just stopped in the middle of the room before cycling his vents. All optics were now fixated on him, fearful of the infamous Sunstorm's dangerous radiation. "Who the slag are you calling Sunstorm?"

This outburst of indignation was unexpected, and Swindle flinched and jumped away when the seeker turned to glare daggers at him. "I look nothing like that piece of slag! Just look at my paintjob and frame: it's a much more beautiful shade of yellow than _Sunstorm's._ And my frame is _much_ sleeker than that garbage can's!" The seeker just looked down at the bots, hauntingly, while they were cowering, they thought they were seeing Starscream's new persona, before grabbing and pulling Swindle up by his neck cables, declaring, "The name, is Thundercracker!"

"Th-Thundercracker?" Swindle whimpered and stared with wide optics at the painted seeker while the other mechs just backed up as recognition dawned on them. "W-why are you-?"

"Ohhhh Swindle, what did you do to TC now~?" Sang a voice at the doors, making bots turn to stare anew in horror.

In the middle of the doorway, stood a red seeker peering in with a slag eating grin. The other bots could tell that it wasn't Dirge; the head of the seeker was not a cone-shaped. That meant only two other choices, and seeing how the seeker was too big to be Starscream… "S-Skywarp?"

"Hmm~? Yeah. You needed something?" Hummed the red Skywarp as he glided next to the golden Thundercracker, who was still giving Swindle the death glare, by the way. "What's the matter bots? Turbo fox got your tongues?"

"Y-You look like…"

"Look like who?" The red seeker teased, moving off to get an energon cube. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Swindle. I just thought that the color red made me look dashing."

"Not better than me!" Thundercracker snarled, dropping the combaticon on his aft, forgotten. "Mine stands out and reflects the sun's light, drawing attention. Yours looks like squishy fluids."

"Hey! Mine is a deep red that stands out against the other Decepticon's paint jobs! See? It's deeper than the slagging Autobot's colors, and it matches to boot!"

"You saying I clash?"

"Yeah! You look like a fragging organic sunflower!"

"That's it!" Thundercracker roared and lunged at Skywarp, who met him in midair with his own tackle. "I'll show you who's an organic!"

"Bring it on, you daffodil!"

Bots scurried out of the way as the brawling seekers rolled and tumbled all over the rec room, taking pot shots at one another. The other 'Cons quickly fled the premises as fast as they could to get away from the two painted seekers; Them playing the two pit-spawned Lamborghini twins was not a good omen, and they didn't even want to guess where or who Starscream was. "TC, they gone yet?"

"Yeah. I got to finish all of my area, did you finish all your-?"

"Oh yeah. Hope this gives Starscream enough time to finish building that thing he was working on, or we're done for."

Onslaught, leader of the Combaticons, was working on his data pad, planning another fighting strategy for his gestalt crew, when Swindle literally dove through the doors, landing on Blastoff, all the while shouting something about locking the door and never opening it again. "What the frag, Swindle!"

Said combaticon was quickly shoved off the shuttle, and then dove to hide under the berths. "It's the seekers! They've lost their processors!"

"What, Starscream? He's never had a processor!" Blastoff roared and kicked an empty cube of energon at Swindle's hiding place. "Don't touch me!"

"No, no, no, not Starscream," whimpered Swindle, grabbing some boxes under the berth to build a sort of barrier.

"What? Who then?" Onslaught growled, looking down at all his scattered data pads—his plans, slaggit!

Swindle only whimpered before he was viciously pulled out of his hiding place by the angry helicopter. "Tell me who, now, or you will see what happens to a bot when he crashes into the earth from five hundred meters!"

"He does know; you did that to him last stellar cycle for selling all of your ammo."

"Shut up, Brawl! He sold yours too!"

"It's Thundercracker and Skywarp!" Wailed Swindle, clutching onto the servo holding him up. "They're all painted like the Autobots, and acting like them too!"

The other four bots paled, staring at the hanging bot in horror. Now there were three of them? "For the love of Primus, who do they look like?"

Now all four mechs were grabbing onto Swindle, trying to plan an escape from Starscream's latest plan of horror. "The-they l-l-look l-like… those two LAMBORGHINI TWINS!"

A dismayed wail of horror left the Combaticons' quarters. The pit master had no mercy. "Y-you m-mean Sunstreaker a-and S-Sideswipe?"

With a whimpering nod, Swindle was immediately dropped to the ground where he once again crawled under his berth to hide. "Slaggit! Skywarp as that red fragger? We're doomed! He already pulls enough pranks, but now…!"

"Frag you all, I'm getting into orbit before those seekers can start their crazy plan."

"Blastoff, take me with you!"

"Frag you, Onslaught, it's every mech for themselves." With a growl the shuttle moved off towards the door.

"Ha! You ground bots are doomed!" Crackled Vortex, rotating his blades. "Starscream will probably be too busy dealing with you grounders to do anything to us flyers."

"Like slag! He'll get you too, like he did last time," grumbled Brawn, checking his hidden energon storage.

"Nah! I checked, yeah! The lift to the surface is still online, because the cone heads and rainmakers are on patrol right now. Even Starscream wouldn't leave them stranded out there, which is more then what I would do for you slaggers!"

Onslaught was on the verge of jumping said crackling bot, until Blastoff grabbed him. Facing the stricken bot, he paled as he translated the shuttles murmuring. "The door won't open."

"What?"

"The door lock is engaged, and when I keep trying to open it, it just comes back with the message, 'Too late, you slaggers.'"

"Are you fragging sure? Blastoff, this is no slagging joke here! Starscream and his trine are on the loose, and you're telling me that the doors won't open!"

The Combaticons looked at the ominous and yet innocent door that stood there, closed. "Quick break that thing down so-."

A loud squeak interrupted the leader, followed by a shriek when Swindle quickly back pedaled out from under the berth. Deep from under the darkness, he was slowly followed by a strange furry blob that swayed from side to side. "Primus, what the slag IS that?"

"It was under your berth, Swindle! What is it?"

"That thing isn't mine!" Wailed Swindle, clinging onto Onslaught's pede.

The Combaticons could only hide behind their leader as the thing swayed closer and closer, only to stop when it was right in the middle of the room.

"_Hi! My name is Fuzzie McFluffy, and I want to be your fwiend!" _The Combaticons jumped when the thing started talking, and stepped back as the thing started to rotate in a circle on the spot. _"I'm a Furby, and my favorite thing to do is sing! Will you sing with me?"_

"Oh slag! KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!" Onslaught could only lunge at the toy before crushing it with his bare servos, smacking the remains to a flat fuzzy mess, and only when he was sure that it was completely killed did he sit up and sigh in relief, "got it."

"Thank Primus! What the slag was that thing? How did it get in here?"

Before Onslaught could answer though, a voice rang out from under the berth again, _"Hi! My name is Miss Fifi Fuzziewuzzie, and I want to be your fwiend!" _As the Combaticons looked at it in horror, the new pink toy was only followed by a blue one who greeted in the same fashion.

"Pits! They're multiplying!" Screamed Vortex, slashing at one with his blades only for three more to appear. "Kill them, slaggit!"

Soon though, for every one that was destroyed, three more appeared, even worse was that they began to sing. The Combaticons were shouting in horror, trying to kill the little things to try to silence their processor grating music. "Die, die, die, DIE!" Eventually all the furbies were crushed into little pieces and the Combaticons lay panting in a corner. "Oh Primus, it's over."

"NO, DON'T SAY THAT!" Screamed Swindle, grabbing onto Blastoff before an ominous **clank** came from the ceiling. All five mechs looked fearfully at the ceiling when nothing else was heard. "…Do you think-?"

Before the sentence was even finished, the air grate of the room cracked open to release waves upon waves of the furbies. Millions of them were pouring out of the grate, drowning the Combaticons in their fluffy fur.

"_Under the sea~"_

"_I'm Fuzzie Cutie!"_

"_Tickle me to make me laugh!"_

"_I wuv you!"_

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Their cries were heard throughout the ship, but no one was going to help them, as they were having their own problems.

"WHAT THE SLAG IS HAPPENING ON THIS SHIP!" Megatron bellowed, watching the whole thing on the security cameras.

The Constructicons were sliding and slipping all the way down the halls—it looked like someone had greased them up completely in oil, making them completely frictionless, and now they were crashing into innocent mechs and into each other. "Hook, save me!"

"How the slag can I do that with Bonecrusher on me?"

"Stop complaining! If I end up spinning in circles again, I'm gonna purge!"

Astrotrain and Blackout look like they were magnetized to the ceiling, while the insecticons were hanging off them covered in pink, metallic confetti. "Stop moving, Kicker!"

"Down, down, down."

"If you end up kicking me in the crotch plates again-!"

The hallways were also painted in florescent colors, and the lights were flashing on and off, causing the processors of bots to crash trying to comprehend what they were seeing. The wash racks were spewing out water and soap, causing the whole sector to be covered in bubbles. The halls to the command were waxed to produce no friction, and were covered in paint, so when Reflector tried using it, he ended up flying through the hall, and crashed into the wall colored in mismatched colors.

Megatron and Soundwave could only gawp, awestruck at the chaos that chaos the seekers could cause in just half a cycle. "WHERE THE SLAG IS STARSCREAM?"

"Location of Starscream: outside the ship, off the coast of Norway."

"What the slag? When did he get there?"

"Left: after leaving the lab."

"What is he doing there?"

"Mission: Retrieving more energon, making strategy to attain efficient amount of energon."

"Who the slag is behind all of THIS, then?"

"Culprits: Thundercracker and Skywarp."

"Where are they…?" Megatron growled in a dangerous voice.

"Screen 3," replied Soundwave, fidgeting when it became obvious that Megatron could not see them. "…The red and the yellow..."

"WHAT!" Megatron stared at the two seekers who were taking pot shots at passing bots. "Why do they look like—NO, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW! GET STARSCREAM ON THE SCREEN, NOW!"

With a series of clicks on the computer, Soundwave quickly got in touch with Starscream, who then appeared onscreen. Standing there proudly, stood a black and white seeker, with half black, half white painted wings, and a police decal stating, 'to enslave and destroy'. His cockpit gleamed in the sun in the middle of two head lights, and his legs and helm were white. The seeker looked back at Megatron with a salute. "You called, Commander?"

"What the slag do you think you are doing?"

"Commander, I had noted that the energon levels at the ship were in drastic need of replenishment. To do this, I had to take on the mission, and plan out a strategy to attain the most energon possible. I am off the coast of Norway, where I have developed a strategy to attack the solar power plant here," replied the seeker, eerily calm. "Is there a problem, Commander?"

"Problem? PROBLEM? Your trine has been causing havoc and mayhem here at the base, and they. Are. Destroying. EVERYTHING!" Roared the tyrant as he began shooting the walls in anger. Soundwave cautiously inched towards the door and to safety. "Get back here, and fix it!"

"Those two! I knew I should not have left them back there alone!" Replied Starscream, acting surprised and indignant. "I will punish them immediately when I get back to Nemesis, Commander. For now though, I need you and the other mechs to come here for a raid. The plan has already begun, and for us to collect the energon we need, the Autobots will surely take notice before long."

"Starscream, I am the leader here, and you cannot command me to do anything!" Megatron slammed his fists into the consol. "Get back here, now, with the cone heads and the rainmakers—I know that they are with you right now—so I can slag you to the pit and back!"

"…Commander?" Muttered Starscream, blinking in surprise. "I am not commanding you to do anything. I am in fact following your command. You gave me the mission to find a place to raid for energon, and to strategize a plan to attain them. Was this not your order?"

Megatron gritted his dentures and growled. _Yes_, that was something that he made Starscream do… but with the pranks and all... Slaggit! "_Fine_. We are heading your way. But let me warn you Starscream: when I get there, you will regret ever being sparked."

"…As you command."

"So you're saying that Starscream is acting like parts of the command to teach the other Decepticons a lesson?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

In the ARK's rec. room, all the Autobots were sitting around, looking at Skyfire as he drank his energon cube. All this attention was making the shuttle a little nervous. "The last time he had done this was back in the academy, when we had a very… how shall I put it? ... _annoying_ and uneducated mech trying to teach us about sub atomic particles. How he became an instructor I will never know, but he knew nothing about anything he was teaching, and Starscream being Starscream, argued with him frequently, which made him, as the humans say, enemy number one."

"How did that lead to him mimicking him?" Bumblebee asked curiously from his spot near the other minibots.

"After a few cycles of them arguing and fighting, Starscream of course got many detentions, and was forced to clean the lab over and over again. I stayed with him during this time though. I may have even given him the idea," Skyfire muttered the last part quietly with a sheepish smile. "I may have said something along the lines that if Starscream 'was anything like him, then his experiments would blow up the left side of the lab.' Next thing I knew, the next day, Starscream appeared in a new paint scheme, and… well, let's just say that that day was one to remember."

"I heard about that! There was a new feed of it; some seeker at the science academy had nearly blown up the whole building by followin' the wrong formula for an experiment or somethin'," exclaimed Jazz. "The instructor was then fired, and sent back to Iacon for it. They were lucky they were able to neutralize the blast."

"It wasn't luck," muttered Skyfire, lost in thought with a smile. "Starscream knew what he was doing: he knew what the instructor's experiment would lead to, and he'd prepared a counter measure for it. Starscream did hate that instructor, but he loved science too much to destroy the building and all the knowledge inside."

"I think I was there," said Perceptor in surprise. "I wasn't taking the class, but I remember walking past the class to see a white seeker standing on top of the table, shouting something about 'space formulas.' I found that extremely strange, given that the equations he was shouting were all wrong."

"Primus, that was Starscream?" gushed Wheeljack, leaning forward excitedly. "That seeker became legendary after that; getting that noble instructor fired; nearly destroying the school; fixing it; then the very next cycle, he went running around the campus, interrupting classes, shouting out random equations, and tackling down instructors trying to make them 'see the logic!'"

"I tried to talk him out of that, but he wanted to rub it in that the academy had hired an incompetent mech and didn't listen to him when he said so."

"Didn't he switch all the ionized tron with zinc eon to cause mechs' experiments to release pink glitter particles?"

"Oh Primus, that was classic! Even better was when he switched out the components of the magnetic gun, and reversed the polarity, causing the user to become a giant magnet!"

"That was when Starscream was really just getting started. You know the prank where-"

"As lovely as this is, seeing you three relive your academy days, I have to interrupt and ask: when did Starscream stop all this?" asked Optimus when it became apparent that the scientists weren't going back to the topic at hand.

"Stopped? Oh he did in the end… when the school had publicly apologized to him, and offered him more free range over his experiments."

"Soooo~ you're saying that Starscream will only stop when Megatron apologizes to him in front of his army," summarized Jazz, smiling. "That'll happen… when the pit freezes over."

"Jazz has a point; Megatron is truly stubborn," agreed Prowl. "As long as this does not affect us, then how Starscream acts will mean nothing to us."

"What about him kidnapping me?" Bumblebee asked, while the other minibots glared at the police car for ignoring their comrade.

"Kidnapping you was unfortunate, Bumblebee, don't misunderstand me. But what he did was not meant to put you in any harm—just to learn about a character he wanted to act as. So again: as long as his actions don't affect us in battle, then we can ignore it." Prowl corrected, putting the minibots at ease.

"I don't know about that, Prowl. Starscream has a way of dragging in mechs that have and want nothing to do with his plans," said Skyfire logically, remembering certain events.

"Whatever Starscream is planning, it will not work. We Autobots will stop it when it goes too far," stated Optimus, calming the murmuring bots. "The Decepticons will soon be planning an attack, and we must be ready-"

Before Optimus could finish however, an alarm klaxon blared out of the speakers, making all bots jump to their pedes ready for battle. "Redalert, what's the situation?"

"Commander Optimus, sorry to interrupt, but it looks like your prediction has come true," replied Red's voice through the speakers. "It looks like seven seekers have been spotted off the coast of Norway, attacking a human solar power plant—no doubt, for energon."

"Can you identify any of the Decepticons, Redalert?"

"Teletran recognizes the three cone heads, and the three rain makers, but one seeker is not recognized," replied the security director, trying to see the unknown seeker's face plates. "Looks like a new solider."

"You heard Redalert, mechs. Looks like the Decepticons have not been handicapped from Starscream's planning. We must go and protect that plant! Autobots, roll out!"

"Thrust, to the LEFT! Put that on the left."

"This one?"

"Yes, now put that one on the middle. _Then_ you can go and help collect energon."

"As you command!"

Starscream shook his head as the red seeker tripped about before looking over at the other five seekers loading energon into a transporter. "How much have we gathered?"

"We got about fifty cubes of the pure stuff, and twenty five of the regular," replied Acidrain, kicking Ramjet to hurry up these cubes were heavy! "When do you think Megatron will come?"

"He contacted me not long ago. He'll be here soon," replied Starscream, looking off into the distance. "I am more concerned about the Autobots arriving and making a mess of my plan."

"You think they've noticed us yet?" asked Ramjet, punching Acidrain, nearly making him drop the cubes.

"Stop that! We need that energon, and it would be illogical to waste it over petty confrontations!" Starscream reprimanded, glaring at the sheepish seekers. "Thrust, are they all in place?"

"Yeah, Starscream—all locked and armed." Thrust replied and walked away from the rock outcropping and over to his trine mate to calm down Ramjet.

"Looks like the plan is coming together," muttered Starscream. He looked at a data pad, checking off things. "Keep collecting energon, the next step of the plan requires the Autobot army to be here-"

"Starscream, Starscream! Autobots sighted ten breems away from your position!" Dirge shouted from his lookout. "What do we do?"

"This is unfortunate," Starscream muttered. All he wanted to do was scream obscenities at the early arriving Autobot army. "But this has been planned for. Dirge, arm and set off the cluster bombs you planted. Thrust, Ramjet, fly to your trine mate and help hold back the Autobots, but make sure that they don't bring you down! I will need you later. Move out!"

"As you command!" Said by the two seekers in unison while taking off to their mate.

"Rainmakers! Hurry it up! We need to secure as much as we can while we have time. Those three won't be able to distract them for long, and I will have to send you three out soon." Starscream commanded while hailing his own trine mates, _Thundercracker, what is your status?_

**We are flying over the sea right now. We just left the base a few clicks ago.**

_I was hoping that Megatron would move faster with the promise of a fight with the Autobots, but what can you expect. Did everything go as planned on the base?_

**Skywarp and I did everything you said. Did you want us to move to intercept the Autobots?**

_No, stay your course, and make sure no one notices the approaching army. I have ways to distract them. I need you to follow the plan and make sure that when it comes, you intercept __**them**__!_

**As you command. Skywarp and I have been waiting for a chance to slag them.**

Starscream nodded before turning off his comm. link, and scanned the battle between the cone heads and Autobots. He frowned at how the cluster bombs that he had set in the sea had only slowed them down for a few clicks. He motioned to the rainmakers to take off; he needed more time for the Decepticon army to get into place. '_This is why I need to be leader.'_

While the rainmakers flew off to aid their fellow seekers, Starscream quickly strutted off to a consol to click in some commands. The machine whirled and clicked as it processed his commands. He then quickly made his way over to the beachfront to oversee the battle's progress.

"Take that, Autobot scum!" Thrust roared, shooting at the approaching army.

"Slag these seekers!" Ironhide swore as he bobbed and weaved to avoid their laser fire. "There's no cover on this slagging sea."

"Well of course, IT'S THE SEA!" Ratchet snarked, and hid behind his Protectobots while they formed a shield around him. He was a medic not a fighter. "Just fire back!"

"If they'd just hold still!"

"It's no good," stated Prowl, trying to shoot Ramjet out of the sky. "They're staying just out of range, and show no signs of moving any closer. Optimus, you should take Jazz and his team, and Ratchet, the Protectobots, and the minibots, and head to the coast while we distract these seekers."

"Are you sure, Prowl?"

"I have requested Redalert to send out the aerial bots; they will be here soon, and we will have air support."

"Alright, Prowl," the Autobot leader consented and called upon the named bots. "Roll out, and push ahead!"

"Slaggit." Sunstorm swore as he saw what they were planning. "There's too many. What do we do?"

"Move back and set off the next charges!" Yelped Hailstorm as a shot just nicked his wings.

"Those will be our last ones!"

"Then hope that Starscream will understand!" With that, the seekers rose to a higher altitude and backed from the army.

"Incoming! They got more cluster bombs!" Shouted Jazz, recognizing their movements.

"Spread out!" Shouted Prowl, moving in front of Bluestreak. "Stop shooting and be ready to move fast!"

As the Autobots drove forward, explosions resounded all across the sea as the bombs set off in hopes of stopping the oncoming Autobots. Some were affected by the blasts, but were quickly picked up by companions and were moved back in line for some quick field repairs from Ratchet. "Slag, those cluster bombs don't pack as much of a punch over the water," growled Dirge when they returned to a more level altitude.

"Shoot them down!"

"No, wait!" Acidrain shouted and moved in to intercept the cone heads. "Starscream has called us back! Leave them!"

"Slag! I fear Starscream more than those slaggers," muttered Sunstorm, redirecting his path back to the beach.

"See you later, fraggers!" Ramjet shouted behind him.

"They're retreating," muttered Bumblebee, watching at the colored flyers move off in the distance.

"This is unexpected." Prowl noted, narrowing his optics while his battle computer worked overtime.

"Think it's a trap, Prowler?" Jazz asked from the police bot's right.

"Not enough evidence to determine that. We will just have to wait and see."

"Roger that!" Jazz smiled while Prowl just gave him a look of confusion. Who was 'Roger'?

As the two trine quickly landed on the shore, they started to massage and patch up the small scrapes they sustained during the fight. Starscream stood calmly in the center of the beach, still facing the horizon. "You six go back and move those cubes to the transporter. I will call you when I need you. Only come out when I command it."

The six shuffled their pedes around hesitantly, before Hailstorm was pushed forward to ask the unspoken question hanging on all of their processors. "Umm… Will you be alright when the Autobots arrive?"

Starscream looked over at the seekers, his face blanked of all emotion. Truth be told, he was actually very surprised with them. He briefly studied their concerned expressions. It seemed that his plan to act as the Autobots had earned him the seekers' respect. What a pleasant surprise. "No, I do not require any help. The Decepticon army has moved into the right position, and I can handle the Autobots," replied Starscream, observing the small specks of color coming from the sea. "Just keep moving the energon, and look out for my signal."

"As you command!" The six seekers marched back to the power station.

Starscream calmly watched as the approaching Autobot army came into view. Judging from the color schemes, the leading bots were Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, and Prowl, followed by the Lamborghini twins, the Protectobots, Ratchet, Bluestreak, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Windcharger, and Hound. When they finally came close enough to the beach the bots stopped in confusion , seeing that there was only one seeker there waiting for them.

"Who are you?" Prowls asked suspiciously while everyone trained their guns on the mech.

"Me? I am second in command of the Decepticon army," replied Starscream with a smirk as the bots recognized his voice. "Commander Starscream, to you."

"Prowl, I think he's acting like you," whispered Jazz, doing a double take.

"I noticed, Jazz," Prowl replied in a carefully neutral voice.

"Starscream, what are you planning?" Optimus questioned, expectantly searching for Megatron to appear. "Where are the others?"

"As if I'd tell you; you are the enemy, Optimus Prime. Sharing that information with you would be highly illogical." Starscream replied curtly, folding his servos behind his back. "You will know my plans soon enough. Right now your focus should be on me, and only me."

"Yer sure about that?" Ironhide asked in an ironic tone. "There's only one a you, and we've got you surrounded."

"On the contrary. I have you exactly where I want you to be," replied Starscream, casually starting to pace back and forth. "I knew that if I was the only one standing here, alone, you wouldn't see me as much of a threat, which would cause you all to let your guard down. I may be surrounded and outnumbered, but I have planned for this, and have made appropriate counter measures."

Just as Starscream finished, a loud explosion erupted right near the shore from the rocks, causing bots to leap out of the way, only to be caught and captured in some nets that had sprung out. As others tried to run to them and free them, more explosions followed by nets entrapped them, holding them down, and incapacitating them with an electric current that coursed throughout the nets. "What the slag!"

Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide, and Bluestreak managed to evade capture, because they were not close enough to the rocks.

"As you see, I have prepared counter measures for your every move," informed Starscream, jumping to the side as he dodged a shot from Ironhide. "I anticipated that as well." Starscream pulled out a rather small, unintimidating looking gun, and aimed it at the battle-hungry Weapons Specialist.

"Slag, I'm _so_ scared. What's that little thing gonna do ta me?" Ironhide scoffed at the puny weapon.

The weapon shot off what looked like a violent spiral of rippling air, kicking up walls of sand at its sides as it tore through the space and straight towards the command bots, making them dive to the ground for cover. Too bad for Ironhide who was just within the blast path—he was slammed back several meters and into the sea on top of the other captured bots.

"BEHOLD! My own invention: The sonic gun." Starscream managed to crow with pride before being forced to leap for cover behind a large rock; the remaining Autobots on the beach had quickly regained their bearings and started shooting at him. "With this, I ought to be able to defend myself _and_ distract _you_ until my army arrives," the seeker sneered confidently.

"Frag that, Starscream!" Jazz cursed while taking cover behind a rock of his own to dodge the sonic wind tunnels. "No offence, Prowl, but he really has this one planned out good," the saboteur then whispered to his tactician friend.

"No offence taken until the seeker can prove that his strategies are better than mine," Prowl replied as he ran through some new scenarios on his battle computer. He turned to Bluestreak. "Have we managed to release any of the bots trapped in the nets yet?"

"Ratchet is currently working to saw himself out with one of his lazar cutters. Fortunately he was sandwiched in between the Protectobots when the nets came on them, and apparently the electric current running through the nets is light enough that it doesn't cause complete paralysis in anyone who's not making direct contact with the net itself. He's completely numb from it all, but he can still move. The others can't though, and they are really cursing out a storm—especially the twins. I've never even heard of some of those swear words. What does—oh, Starscream just shot Ironhide again, and he just crashed further into the sea. We can't get close to them either cuz Starscream keeps blasting those sonic wind tunnels between them and us. Prowl, what do we do? What do we do? Cause-"

"I understand, Bluestreak." Prowl cut off the talkative gunner. "Try to secure a position up in the cliffs—see if you can find a good shot," he commanded, then turned to face his leader. "Optimus, I have a plan to stop Starscream and his sonic gun, but I will need you and Jazz to assist me."

"Affirmative, Prowl, what is the plan?"

"I need you to throw this rock here-," he patted a rather large boulder next to them, "-three meters forward. That will break Starscream's line of sight long enough for Jazz to run out and hide behind it without danger from the sonic blasts. Jazz, from there you should be close enough to produce the opposite frequency of the sonic gun and disable its effects, allowing us to move in on the seeker," Prowl declared while calculating the percentages. "Right after he shoots off the next wind tunnel, that is your chance."

"Got it, Prowler!"

The plan shot into motion. Starscream had just shot a cursing Ironhide back into the sea, and Optimus ripped the boulder out of the ground and heaved it forward many meters with his impressive strength. Starscream had to wait a few precious seconds between shots for the gun to charge, and Jazz took hold of that small time window and made a dash for cover behind the thrown boulder.

"Your strategy is cute, Prowl. But you have forgotten that I am, in fact, a seeker." True to his seeker build, Starscream took off into the air and flew just out of Jazz's range.

"Now, Bluestreak!"

Before Starscream could widen his optics in surprise, a sniper bullet had ripped through the sonic gun, shattering it into pieces. It seemed that he had forgotten all about the bumbling sniper, he noted as he cradled his sore servo.

"I knew you'd take to the sky, Starscream. Thanks to Optimus and Jazz's distraction, you played right into my hands. By taking off into the air, you've left yourself and your precious gun out in the open. Which made you a ripe target for our sniper," Prowl explained. "It's also allowed Ratchet enough time to cut through his net and release the Protectobots, which in turn allowed them to release the others."

"Yeah, you slagger! And now it's time for JET JUDO!" The two twins crowed and leapt at Starscream.

For a moment Starscream looked surprised, but that look quickly twisted into a wickedly smug grin. "I don't think so."

Just as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were only inches away from their prey, they were suddenly tackled by a red and yellow blur. "No you two don't! LAMBORGHINI KARATE!"

The Autobots watched in wide eyed shock as the twins were tackled from the sky and landed on their afts with a deafening **thud. **Staring at the wrestling pile of red and yellow, Prowl's logic centers crashed, and he couldn't help but turn to Jazz in a daze, "Jazz?"

"Uh huh?"

"Are those two red and yellow seekers?"

"Uh huh."

"And did they just scream 'Lamborghini karate'?"

"Uh huh."

"Is that Thundercracker and Skywarp acting as the twins?"

"Uh huh."

"Oh."

With that, Prowl pressed his head into his servo, trying to ignore the impending crash coming on as the Autobots watched the seekers and Lamborghinis roll around in the sand. Starscream landed and cleared his throat. "Your plan may have been impressive; to distract me and buy time for your medic. But the tide of battle is still in my favor; you have allowed enough time for my army to arrive," reported Starscream as the Decepticon army filed in behind the seeker.

"Optimus Prime," Megatron growled when he made his way past the black and white Starscream. "What a surprise."

"Megatron," replied Optimus, trying to ignore the roughhousing twins and seekers just off to the side. "I'll always be here to protect the humans from you."

"The humans are nothing more than useless meat bags," snarled Megatron with a smirk. "They are useful as nothing but slaves for producing the energon we require."

"I won't allow that to happen, Megatron! The humans are sentient beings and deserve the same rights as we do!"

"Rights? You have no place to talk about rights, Prime. They are nothing more than primitive-"

"I hate to interrupt, but this whole exchange is illogical," Starscream cut in, causing both leaders to pause and look at him. "Every time we meet for battle, this same discussion occurs, and I find that these arguments are just being restated fruitlessly. There is no productive end to this fight of egos. Seekers, Delta seven alpha formation!"

Upon hearing the Air Commanders call, the rainmakers and cone heads flew over the power plant, carpeting the area with cluster bombs over the scrambling Autobots.

"Prowl, the aerial bots are here!"

"Aerial bots! Form Superion and attack the seekers!"

Starscream watched as the aerial bots began to transform and merge. "Constructicons! Join and form Devastator!" Starscream howled from his perch away from the battle, _if you are able to take them down, I will give you the next few cycles off, not include you in any more of these pranks, and give you double the amount of your current vacation time and energon allowance._

Something clicked when Starscream said 'not include you in any more of these pranks', and the Constructicons hurriedly knocked over the Autobots they were dealing with and scrambled to meet each other. It was the fastest merging any bot had ever seen, and just when Superion had formed, it was then violently tackled from the sky by an enthusiastic Devastator, and sent crashing into the sea. "You are not getting in the way of our FREEDOOOOOM!" roared Devastator at the stunned Superion.

"…Holy slag, I just blinked and Superion was gone," Hailstorm muttered, making another turn to drop cluster bombs. "Like, he didn't even get to do anything."

"I just blinked and Devastator was just there," Acidrain added, making a barrel roll when Silverbolt was ripped off Superion's frame and sent flying. "Wasn't that the Aerialbots' leader?"

Jazz and Prowl couldn't help but gawk as their merged fliers were torn apart. "…Starscream must've offered them somethin' reeeally good for them to move _that_ fast."

"Their 'freedom'?" repeated Prowl shaking his head. "Protectobots! Merge and form Defensor!"

"Combaticons! Merge and form Bruticus!" Starscream countered. _Defeat them, and I will remove all the furbies from your quarters- you will never see them again. And I will leave you out of my pranks._

"DEATH TO THE FURBIES!" screeched the Combaticons in unison while they jumped and formed in midair.

Defensor formed to only see a charging Bruticus hell-bent on destroying the only thing that stood in its way to freedom from Starscream's diabolical plans and the evil of furry toys. The Autobots forming Defensor thought carefully, looked at the torn apart Superion and the cheering and sobbing Devastator—("It's over for us! We're finally FREE!")—and in unison came to a decision that lead them to turn the other way and flee from the charging bot. "Come back here, you cowards! You won't stand in the way of the death of the furbies! YOU'RE WORKING WITH THEM, AREN'T YOU?"

Prowl and Jazz couldn't help but watch the panicking Defensor and the hysterical Bruticus, who was now shouting something about Disney songs. "I don't think I can take this battle seriously anymore, Jazz."

"Even the leaders aren't, Prowler."

True to Jazz's observation, Optimus and Megatron were both watching the running mergers wide, dumbfounded optics. "Ummm, should we fight now?"

"No, Prime, the mood is gone."

"But-"

"It's dead. Starscream has killed it."

"Can't you just-"

"DEAD."

Optimus just stared at the defeated leader before shrugging and continuing to watch the battle. Prowl and Starscream were matching each other plan for plan, like a giant chess game using the bots of both armies as pawns. "Minibots!" "Casseticons!"

While this was happening, most of the other bots were just hiding behind rocks and occasionally shooting the other side while watching the desperate mergers try to get Starscream's acceptance. The battle between the Lamborghinis and seekers ended with Skywarp flying off cackling with pleasure as he carried off Sideswipe's jet pack, and Thundercracker carrying off a yellow arm while yelling abuse about how ugly Sunstreaker looked now. Both Lamborghinis were knocked out on the ground, ironically enough, not by the seekers but by Ratchet who'd slugged them both with his wrench when it became apparent they were still going to chase the newly colored seekers despite all the damage they'd received from the 'Lamborghini Karate.'

"This is not worth it anymore," Megatron muttered as he watched the Autobots' medic walk past grumbling about dropped-on-the-head-as-sparklings Lamborghinis while dragging the two limp twins by their neck scruffs.

"You are correct, Commander," Starscream announced, causing both leaders to jump. "All the energon has been collected and it is time to end this."

"…We can't let you get away?" Optimus said uncertainly in a way that sounded like a question.

"What have you done?" shouted Megatron, grabbing and shaking the Autobot leader. "Don't encourage him!"

"Prowl, you have been a challenging statistician, but while_ your_ strengths lay in logic and battle plans, you have forgotten_ mine_," stated Starscream dramatically.

"…"

"Just humor him, Prowl," Jazz whispered, watching as Defensor split up again and hid behind Ratchet while Ratchet was verbally abusing Bruticus who took up the challenge to find the dirtiest swear words to beat Ratchet who was coming up with really interesting ones, "maybe this will just end faster."

"...Starscream, though I can agree that you are a challenge to plan against," started Prowl, rolling his optics, "everything that you can come up with, I can counter."

"You're doomed," Megatron rasped in horror, letting go of Optimus and running back to his army.

"Not this," Starscream declared, pulling out a large, long-nosed gun from his subspace. This gun looked much more frightening than the last one. "While you are strong in predicting all outcomes and chances, I am a master of SCIENCE!"

With that, Starscream fired into the Autobot lines, and bots ducked and slid to the side to avoid the ray, but when it reached the end of the army the ray disappeared into nothing. The bots stared at where the ray had disintegrated before raising confused optic ridges and looking at Starscream again. It didn't seem like the ray had done anything… So then why was Starscream wearing such a wickedly smug look on his face? "Jazz, do you feel anything?"

"…Not really, Prowler."

"Anyone?"

The army replied with a mutter of no's and shaking heads. Everyone looked up expectantly at Starscream once more. But Starscream only raised a servo with one finger pointed upward to mime 'just a moment'. They barely waited three seconds before Bluestreak let out a squeak, and bots watched as the datsun was pulled towards the center of the beach by an unseen force. Soon he was followed by other bots that were scrambling to grab onto something—anything—to stop their unwanted movements. "Maybe goin' along was a bad idea after all," muttered Jazz before yelping as he too flew though the air to crash into Ironhide who was swearing up a storm.

Quickly the unseen force intensified and grew more violent as more and more of the Autobot army was being flung together in the center of the beach, where they stuck together in one massive ball, with no signs of coming apart anytime soon. Optimus was the last bot to become affected by the invisible power—he was able to resist for only a click though before the ball of bots came flying at him and running him over. The Decepticons could only stare at the ball of mechs in stunned fascination. "Starscream… what did you do?"

"Magnetic gun," he answered. Then he casually strode up to the ball of shouting, complaining, and cursing Autobots. He calmly rolled it around until he found the mech he was looking for. Prowl could only stare wide eyed as Starscream poked him in the chest, "MASTER. OF SCIENCE." A click and a buzz was heard, and Prowl's processors finally crashed. Starscream shrugged at the now unconscious mech, and then motioned for Skywarp and Thundercracker to come closer. "Roll them into the sea!"

With a swift kick from Skywarp, and a shove from Thundercracker, the ball of shouting bots was rolled into the sea, and the sound of their vocals were drowned out under the crashing waves. "Mission complete, Commander," stated Starscream who then turned to look at Megatron.

There was a click of silence before Megatron slammed his face into his servo. He was just embarrassed completely in front of the opposing army by his own Second in Command. What about his reputation? HIS EGO?

But…

It was quiet at first, but soon it became more obvious as more noises joined in. "The Autobots are such a ball of fun," Skywarp innocently stated, covering his mouth with a servo.

That did it.

Soon the whole Decepticon army was in hysterics, laughing at their enemies' ill earned fate. They were clutching their sides and fritzing in laughter as more jokes were shared around. Even Megatron was too busy laughing to slag Starscream like he had promised. Starscream looked over at the hysterical army before allowing a triumphant smirk to slide onto his face; '_Mission success!'_

"I hate Starscream."

"Agreed, Prowler."

This was agreed upon with grunts and threats to the seeker as Wheeljack and Skyfire rolled the ball of _still_ stuck together bots back to the shore, "Sorry we have to roll you, but this is the easiest way."

"Please tell us you can get us apart."

"It will take time to find the right polarity," Perceptor answered while reading from a data pad before putting it down and shuffling over to the ball. "But before we do that, I want to do this first." A mischievous smile crossed the normally placid scientist's features.

The microscope pulled out a camera and took a picture of himself with Prowl in the background, stuck with his arms spread wide, one pede on Sideswipe's helm, and his door wings spread out in an awkward angle that smacked Prime right on the face. "Say cheese!"

"Oh, I want one!"

"May I have one with Jazz?"

As the scientists chatted about what picture they wanted, Prowl let out a growl, "Hate him!"

"Thundercracker, Thundercracker! Look how shiny it is now," Skywarp cooed, admiring his newly acquired jetpack. "I can see my reflection."

"Good, hand it here."

"What? NO! Get your own! You have the yellow one's arm for Primus sake!"

"Give it here so I can hang it up."

"OH! Okay," chirped the seeker, handing it over for the older seeker to hang up.

Out from the private wash racks, a clean, tri-colored seeker walked out. "What are you two doing?"

"Hanging up our souvenirs," replied the black seeker, preening in his original colors.

"And what nice ones they are," Starscream acknowledged with a yawn and laid down on the berth.

"Hey, Star, you want us to get the paints ready for tomorrow? Pick up and set up some pranks? Distract some bots?" asked Skywarp, rubbing his jetpack.

"Hmm… nah," Starscream replied sleepily.

"No? Nothing?" Thundercracker wondered aloud, giving Sunstreaker's arm one more look before moving across the room to lay next to Starscream.

"Nope, nothing." This was all the answer the tri-colored seeker gave as he snuggled into the blue seeker while pulling the black one close.

"You mean it's all over?" asked Skywarp, looking at his trine leader's peaceful face. "No more pranks, acting, painting, and annoying Megatron?"

"Well, he has accomplished what he set out to do; earn the respect of the army. Megatron will now take him seriously, and the Autobots will think twice before fighting him."

"So no more, Star?"

"…Who said anything about that?" Starscream asked with a smirk before falling into stasis.


	7. Love and Hugs End

**Starscream's the One and Only**

Written by: NovaBlastTF

Edited by: Fliara48

**Chapter 7:**** Part 6, Love and Hugs. The End.**

Deep, deep within the ocean's darkest depths laid the ominous vessel, the Nemesis. A marvel of Cybertronian technology, this infamous warship was made of the kind of material that most humans could only dream of. Confined within its walls were the fiercest and most ruthless warriors in the galaxy: the Decepticons. Their goal was nothing less than the domination of worlds, and their weapons were poised and ready to devastate their enemies with enough power to level human cities in the blink of an eye. These were soldiers without mercy, without cares or compassion—they were the elite of the elite, proud and dignified soldiers of-

"I'm _bored!"_ whined a black and purple seeker, smacking his head onto the keyboard and laying there motionlessly as gibberish was sent scrawling across all the monitors.

"Skywarp, stop that," Thundercracker chastised from his own consol. "The last thing we need is for you to send that bizarre junk code to another bot, and have the poor sap come to their own warped conclusions for what it means."

"At least it'd be better than this limbo," Skywarp pouted and deleted the gibberish with a slow tap of the proper keys. "I'm so used to expecting Starscream's pranks now; I'm itching to do something—_anything_. Paint the walls, make a distraction, blast music—slaggit, I'm even ready for another dance number. But nothing's happening! I know Screamer said he wasn't done an all, but like _nothing_ is happening."

Thundercracker sighed as his partner let out another sigh and smacked his head onto the consol again. He wasn't about to admit it out loud, but he too missed the chaos and mayhem that came with Starscream's pranks. "It had to end sometime," he muttered, bluely accepting his fate.

"But I didn't want it to." Skywarp moaned.

"And it hasn't." Both seekers jolted and spun around to see their tri-colored leader sweep into the room with a glorious swagger like a mech on a deliciously diabolical mission. "I still have one plan left. It may not be quite as flashy as the last few, but it _will_ be just as big, and by far the most scarring prank yet!" He cackled wickedly.

Skywarp squealed ecstatically and bounded over to his trine leader. Thundercracker managed to keep his expression neutral, but his trine mates could tell by the quivering of his wings that he was just as excited. "Alright, here's the plan…"

All the other bots aboard the Nemesis were working their shifts like normal, ignorant of the scheming seekers. Repairs were made, machines were built, energon was organized and sent to Cybertron, bots fought and rolled around the halls, bets were made, sanities were being rebuilt, monitors were scanned and patrols were done. All in all, it was almost as if Starscream and his streak of pranks had never happened. However, if one looked more closely, bots were actually functioning more fluidly, and there was more energon on the ship than ever before, and most interesting of all, all the bots were now wary and respectful of the seekers. The cone heads and rainmakers were treated with a certain amount of deference they'd never known before, and they weren't complaining either—now they got first choice of patrol shifts and energon, much to their delight.

Megatron and Soundwave were currently working in the storage rooms overlooking the shipment of energon cubes to Cybertron. Soundwave was checking off items from a list, and Megatron was conversing with Shockwave to update him on recent news, conveniently leaving out the antics of a certain seeker to save his pride. "This has been the largest shipment of energon that we have seen in a very long time, my Lord Megatron." Shockwave actually sounded impressed. "You've been successful in battle I take it?"

"The battle went as well as it should," Megatron replied gruffly. Right now he didn't want to be reminded of anything about their most recent battle. "The shipment will arrive within the breem. Make sure it goes to supply the army. Have there been any problems on Cybertron?"

"Attacks from the Autobot femmes, but it has been handled," the one-eyed mech reassured his master, and clicked some keys to activate the transporter. "Transporter activated. Ready to receive."

With a flash of light, the energon was sent off. While the two bots watched the bright display, the entrance of a certain tri-colored seeker went unnoticed much to this mech's pleasure. "Greetings, Shockwave. It's nice to see you."

Megatron whirled around to see Starscream coolly grinning up at Shockwave's image on the monitor. The Decepticon leader hadn't even heard the seeker enter, and now he was suddenly standing right next to him. That was slightly unnerving.

"…Starscream, how unfortunate to see you still functional." Shockwave droned.

"That's neither encouraging, nor nice," Starscream gasped and stared with wide optics. "Why would you say that? We are all here for the same goal of ensuring Decepticon victory."

Megatron scanned the seeker from the corner of his optics, searching for something different in his paint job, searching for clues as to whether he was back to normal or if he was acting again. He saw nothing but the seeker in his original colors. Still, he didn't want to take any chances, and he even motioned for Shockwave not to answer but the gesture was completely missed by the purple bot.

"Your actions have only ever hindered the Decepticon cause, Starscream. You are a thorn," Shockwave stated dryly, like he'd practiced these words for years. "Your constant scheming and back stabbing only drags down the potential of those around you. You are a coward in battle, traitorous to our leader, and you give no aid to the cause when you frequently allow our enemies victory because of your unprofessional actions."

Megatron chanced a glance at Starscream, waiting for the outburst of indignation and rage from the notoriously short-tempered seeker. …Starscream just turned to stare back at the leader with—were those _tears?_

"You don't think that, do you, Commander Megatron?" Starscream asked softly, clasping his servos together and leaning towards his frozen leader with glistening, watery optics. "You think I'm a great second in command, correct?"

Megatron watched Starscream with widened optics while glancing at the expectant purple bot on the monitors. Oh slag, Starscream just put him between a hard place and the pit master himself. What was he going to say? "…I am needed in the command centre." He dodged the question and power-walked towards the doors and to safety. "Soundwave, take care of this."

Soundwave only stared at his retreating leader, internally crying in horror at being thrown under the bus like that. Slowly he turned to look over at the almost-crying Starscream, and then the piercing optic that was watching him onscreen. "Starscream: Grand Second in Command," Soundwave intoned just as Starscream's wings started to quiver in distress. He winced internally. Never in all his life had he ever wanted to comfort a crying seeker, ever, and he wasn't going to start now. "No mech could compare."

Shockwave only blinked at the Third in Command, "…Soundwave surely you cannot disagree with me, his actions have been-"

"Correct and professional," Soundwave finished with some relief as said seeker cooed in happiness and began to stop crying. "No other Second in Command can compare."

Starscream practically shivered with joy from being praised. "See, Shockwave? I am wanted here. Unlike you, who are hiding on Cybertron, I am here on the front lines, on Earth, fighting against Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. What I do here is important for ensuring our future victory. Unlike you, who just has to stop the Autobot femmes, which you seem to have a hard time doing, and continue to rebuild our city—the progress of which is halted to nothing because I suspect you are either getting lazy or are distracted by the wiles of the femmes. What I do here is important and necessary, right, Soundwave?"

"…Correct."

"Soundwave you cannot believe that-"

"Transmission end," Soundwave quickly cut the transmission, he didn't want to spark what would have been a very embarrassing and confusing argument between Shockwave and Starscream's newest personality, only to find himself tackled into a hug by Starscream as a result.

"Oh, Soundwave that was the nicest thing you've ever said to me," The happy seeker cooed, servos still wrapped tightly around the petrified bot's waist. "Thank you! But I must go give my report to Megatron and see the rest of the army now. I'll see you later Soundwave~!" The giddy seeker finally relinquished his grip, and Soundwave could only stare as Starscream all but skipped out the door, waving like a lunatic before the closing door blocked out the strange image.

"We're still doomed aren't we?"

Soundwave looked over to discover Scrapper. Apparently the constructicon had been in the storage room with Megatron and Soundwave, but had taken to hiding behind a tower of cubes when the seeker entered the room. "Future of Decepticon army: Doomed."

Starscream skipped through the halls unhindered; all bots that saw him frolicking so joyfully ran away in horror, and ducked into other rooms for shelter. He stopped once he reached the command center and quickly punched in the code, walking in just in time to see that Megatron was talking to Optimus.

'_What luck!'_ Thought the seeker, cackling internally. '_This is a sign from Primus himself!'_

"Megatron we require the use of the space bridge-"

"Commander, here are the data pads you urgently needed!" Starscream chirped, bouncing to his leader's side. Megatron actually jumped, startled, and stepped away a few paces to put some distance between himself and the crazy seeker. "Hi Optimus!" Starscream greeted the Autobot leader cheerily, seeming oblivious to his own leader's guardedness.

The Autobot leader only raised a curious optic ridge at the seeker before nodding slowly, "Starscream."

"Were you having a meeting with Megatron? Why wasn't I contacted?" The seeker sent a sad look towards his leader, who was now dragging an entire consol between them. "Aren't I a good enough Second in Command to be included in such affairs?"

Megatron could only cough and turn to the opposing leader, ignoring the seeker who was looking at him with watery optics again. "Our space bridge? Why would we ever allow you to have access to it? We are at war, Prime."

"Megatron, we are willing to give back the hostages that we have captured," continued Optimus trying to convince his stubborn counterpart, "and also give schematics for a machine to produce your own energon so you don't have to keep attacking human settlements-"

"Don't do it commander!" Starscream shouted abruptly and grabbed at—practically clinging onto Megatron's servo. "Those hostages are only low level soldiers and know nothing that will put any of our plans in danger. Also, they-" he pointed at the Autobots onscreen, "as Autobots would never do anything to harm them. That would be immoral and against their code!"

Megatron quickly disentangled his hand from the seeker's grip before Starscream turned and pointed up at Optimus' surprised face. "Also, we _already_ have a machine to produce the energon we need. Attacking human settlements is done only to collect extra energon in bulk, so we might send it to Cybertron to rebuild it—an effort which you continue to hinder! We have to go back home sometime, Prime, and I'd rather not go back to a hole in the ground. We won't fall for your tricks! Decepticons will never bow down to the tyranny of the Autobo-!"

Optimus blinked at the screen as Megatron—instead of just hitting the seeker—cringed and plucked the seeker by his wings, causing said seeker to let out a high pitched squeak and freeze, and placed him away from the screen. Once Megatron was sure that Starscream was not going to make another outburst at Optimus, he turned back to the screen. "Starscream is correct: you offer nothing that is useful or even tempting," droned Megatron, twitching and pushing Starscream away with his pede when the seeker cooed and moved towards the screen. "We are not allowing you to use the transporter."

"Megatron," sighed Optimus, "if you do not allow us to use the transporter then we will have to force our way through."

"Ha! I'd like to see you try that, Prime. If it's a battle you want then we will gladly fight you again, but do you really want to fight us so soon? Remember last time?"

Optimus casted a wary glance at the strangely calm seeker. "This is war, Megatron. We must fight for our rights."

"Then we-"

"**Then we will meet you in battle**!" Starscream roared, cutting off his leader with his own words. Megatron was so startled and angry; he nearly shot the seeker then and there. "We will defend the space bridge with all our might against you oppressive Autobots, no matter the numbers or weapons we face! We will stand and defend what is ours! I will prepare the troops, Commander! Let nothing stand in our way! GLORY TO THE DECEPTICONS!"

With that one last cry, Starscream about-faced and tore out of the command room, leaving the two leaders staring wordlessly after the spastic seeker. Optimus could only blink as Megatron slammed his head onto the consol. "WHY…?" he moaned, "Why couldn't you have taken him prisoner? Recruited him to your side? SOMETHING!" He thwacked his forehelm on the consol once more for good measure.

"…I think even if we did, we would have given him back after having him for one click."

"…Primus has doomed us."

In the rec. room bots were lounging around, taking their breaks and catching up on rumors and gossip. Every bot tensed when they noticed Thundercracker and Skywarp arrived, but upon seeing them in their normal colors and acting normally, everyone relaxed again and resumed what they were doing. Events in the rec. room were playing out normally… until the doors were slammed open with a reverberating CLANG.

"Soldiers! We are needed for battle! Report to air hangar 7 for a battle meeting!" Starscream shrieked as he popped his head into the room, causing many bots to jump and spit out the energon they were drinking.

"Oh no, Commander!" started Skywarp dramatically, rushing over to his trine leader with his servos out. "What has happened? Are we being attacked?"

"No, worse, my friend," exclaimed Starscream with wide optics, holding servos with Skywarp. "The Autobots are threatening to steal our transporter! What a crime! They're challenging us for it, and we must defend it before they go to Cybertron and destroy our home!"

"The tragedy," Skywarp faked gasped. "We must go immediately then! To the hangar, bots!"

Both seekers then linked servos and ran off to the direction of the hangar. Everyone else just stared after them, not daring to move or even say a word, fearing that they would then become a target. Thundercracker saw that no one was making a move, and with a sigh, he prepared himself for his part. Grabbing the servo closest to him, Blitzwing's, he pulled the mech down so that they were face to face.

"Why aren't you going to the hangar bay like our Commander ordered? Don't you like our leader?" Blitzwing's optics only widened further when Thundercracker's got watery. "Don't you want the Decepticons to win?"

"YES I DO!" shouted the flyer. Jumping up, he barreled his way towards the hanger, even kicking an insecticon out of the way as he did so. Bots only looked over at the retreating figure before gazing back at the blue seeker again. Upon seeing his watery optics now focused on them, they all rushed up and sprinted to the hangar bay, not wanting to comfort the once silent and brooding blue seeker. Once all the mechs had vacated the room, a wicked smile broke across Thundercracker's face, and he sent a message to his trine leader that they were all heading his way.

Standing in the large empty hangar, Decepticon bots milled about, looking at one another in confusion. Usually before a battle there would just be an announcement before they were deployed, not a whole assembly meeting. Even Megatron seemed out of it, standing dully at the balcony looking down over them all. What was he supposed to say? "The Autobots have decided to attack our space bridge and use it to transport themselves to Cybertron. Decepticons move ou-!"

"Commander! What are you doing?" Starscream gasped and tackled Megatron, causing him to lose his balance and falter on one pede while waving his servos like crazy trying to stay up. "You have to tell them more! The battle plan, what they should expect, maneuvers, and words of encouragement!"

Starscream then quickly jumped off the grey bot, letting him fall to the ground with a thump. Soundwave just looked onward blankly, taking a step away from the seeker. "Decepticons, our evil enemies, the Autobots, are threatening our very home!" Starscream shouted with his servos spread wide. "They want to go to Cybertron, overthrow Shockwave's control, and turn it over to those femmes! Can't you see what will happen to the base when we return? The pink feminine horror!"

Bots couldn't help but stare in awe as Starscream leaned over the rail, ranting and waving his servos charismatically. "That is why we need to prepare ourselves for their tricky and fiendish plan of attack! You glorious ground bots will be our main line of defense! We're counting on you. You all have to hold the line as you will be attacked by the plotting Prowl, the sneaky Jazz and the trigger-happy, gung-ho Ironhide!"

"…My tank just turned when he called us 'glorious'," muttered a ground bot cringing.

"I don't think I can handle it if he compliments us again."

"You will take cover behind the cliff face and shoot them down with your impeccable aiming! Flyers I need you to be in the air, ready to face their Aerialbots which form the dreaded Superion. I believe in you all, and know that you can do it! Flyers, be sure to provide our ground bots with support! We must work together if we are to ensure a glorious victory against the Autobots! I know the battle will be hard and dangerous but we must remember what we are fighting for: For the glory of our freedom and the resurrection of our home!" Starscream then did a one-eighty degree turn, landing himself right in front of Megatron. The Decepticon leader froze. "And you, our supreme leader, will face our greatest enemy, Optimus Prime! The menacing and evil commander of our enemies! We believe in you, and know that you will ensure our victory! With your fusion cannon of freedom, we will win this battle and then… the war!"

"All Hail Megatron!" Skywarp roared passionately and appeared behind Megatron, hugging him—making the tyrant let out a mechly squeak—and pinning Megatron's servos to his body so that the grey bot couldn't strike out at Starscream.

Starscream just then leaned forward and hugged him from the front, leaving the frozen leader squashed between the two seekers. Thundercracker then walked up and rubbed his chin, before joining in the group hug. Soundwave by now was climbing down the balcony, too afraid to get caught by the touchy feely seekers. "Onward to battle!" Starscream shouted after quickly letting go of Megatron. He launched himself into the air, flying towards the surface, and was quickly followed by his two wing mates.

The remaining bots stared blankly up at the frozen leader, not wanting to move an inch in case the seekers came back wanting to hug another mech. Megatron could only let out a small groan before falling over in stasis-lock. The others looked at each other, wondering what to do now that their leader had fainted and they were at the mercy of Starscream.

"Decepticon army: Move out before Starscream comes back crying," droned Soundwave when he got a message from Starscream wondering where they all were.

With that, all bots were running and taking off to the surface while Soundwave just ordered the constructicons to wake up Megatron; Starscream still needed the grey mech in the upcoming battle.

The Decepticon army stood restlessly in position behind the cliffs, anxiously shifting their weight from pede to pede. Mostly, they were scanning the open desert spaces for any signs of the opposing army, but every now and then their optics would drift over to the hovering seekers who were chirping in seekercant to each other.

Something was going to go down.

"_You have to move quick and-_"

"_With that one? You have to do this-_"

"_Slag I don't wanna touch him!_"

"_Hush! You all have your orders! Just act how I tell you, and Megatron will be on his knees begging forgiveness,_" hissed Starscream getting nods from his wing mates, rainmakers, and cone heads. "Where is our mighty leader anyway?"

"He's over on top of that cliff, the constructicons have just revived him and he's given the order that no seeker is to come anywhere near him," informed Hailstorm.

"Now he's just playing hard to get," muttered the tri-colored seeker. "Move into position. The Autobots will be here soon, and I need to play this well or it might fall apart."

"As you command!" with that the seekers all flew off to different positions.

Smirking, Starscream looked to the horizon to see the approaching Autobot army. He laughed silently, and begun the preparations for his act. ~_If you want to avoid what is going to happen next, I recommend taking cover as fast as you can when my plan begins. I'm sure you'll recognize when that happens~ _The message was sent to Soundwave, the Constructicons and the Combaticons which caused the bots to slowly move off away from the main army and off to the side together, ready to run and hide when the plan came into action.

Starscream smirked at this and scanned the horizon, mentally counting to three. On the third number, a row of vehicles driving through the desert came into view. He cackled with glee, and checked to see if Megatron was still on the cliff before taking off towards the opposing army and landing a few feet in front of his own. Striking a pose with one servo on his hips and the other out in a 'stop' sign, Starscream stood to greet the oncoming army.

The leading truck saw Starscream's actions, and commenced his transformation sequence in a show of shifting, clicking gears, to reveal Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots in his shining glory. Optimus gave a quick scan to see if the seeker was carrying any new weapons before speaking, "Starscream."

"Optimus Prime," The seeker acknowledged, watching as Optimus' command team stopped and transformed behind their leader. "We are here to stop you from using our transporter."

"...Starscream," Optimus was realizing that his usual talks with Megatron before each battle would now be done with the seeker, "be reasonable, Cybertron is as much our home as it is yours. We require the use of the space bridge to communicate with our companions and to see if the rebuilding of our once great city is going as planned."

"Oh no," Starscream waggled his finger, making many mechs raise a curious optic ridge, "you did not just use that _we're cybertronians too _argument. How dare you. You have done nothing to help the reconstruction of our home. We are the ones who have been sending energon back to our planet to start the process. We are the ones who have a command there that has actually started and is running the last city on Cybertron while all _your_ companionshave been doing is stealing our energon and destroying our work drones."

"Starscream the femmes are just-"

"Just what, Prime? Delaying the restoration of a city? Denying a home to our race? Destroying and wasting valuable energon just to have a one up on Shockwave? Taking energon and just getting drunk and rolling around waiting for another opportunity to strike? What Prime? What are they doing?"

"…Is it bad that I'm feelin' a little guilty?" muttered Jazz to Prowl, who just stared at him with a raised optic ridge and shook his head.

"Starscream, we are at war. I cannot deny that the femmes are delaying the restoration of the city, but we cannot have a Decepticon controlled base that could attack the Autobots. We need to look after our own troops as well as the other cybertronians-"

"So you're denying us a home? After Vos was bombed to the ground, after thousands upon thousands of seekers were offlined? There were seekerlets Prime! Or are you just like the council of elders who believed that just because we were military builds, we didn't deserve the rights you do? Oh no, it's alright for you and your council to have homes. Don't worry about us seekers and common mechs—we'll just recharge on the ground and eat solar rays of sunshine and rainbows." Starscream shook his head as Thundercracker reminded him to stay in character, "Prime have you even looked at your troops? Half of them are common mechs, especially Ironhide there. You would deny them a home because a Decepticon with good intentions is doing it?"

"What? No! Starscream that is not what I believe! I believe that everyone has the right to equality, common and noble mechs deserve to be treated the same. Vos was a terrible loss but so was Praxus-"

"You're blaming me for that!" gasped Starscream covering his mouth. "I was only a solider then! Listening to orders after my home had been destroyed and I had no one left but my trine and a leader who tried to fix it all."

"No, I'm not blaming you for that! But it is the same for me and Vos! I was made Prime after Vos and had no part in the plan to harm Vos. Starscream, we just require the use of the space bridge to send supplies to our squad—medical supplies, and to see if they are alright. I don't deny your part in helping to rebuild Cybertron, but there are better ways than-"

"Than attacking human energy plants? Prime, have you seen the state of our city? We need a lot of energon. A lot, Prime. Us poor Decepticons though, there are only so many of us, and we're here trying our best to gather all we can to build homes, but have you seen the equipment we have? It's not enough to build energy converters, and I don't see you Autobots helping either, so woe is us where we have to take the sacrifice of being seen as the bad mechs just to get the cubes of energon Shockwave desperately needs." Starscream clutched at his chest as his trine mentally applauded his performance. "So we steal from the humans, have you seen how much energy they produce? They don't even need it all, so why can't we take some? Do you just want us to starve and die, Prime? How can you be so cruel?"

"I wish it was that easy," muttered Ironhide, earning a glare from his leader. "What? I do."

"Starscream, if you really see things this way, then why can't we work together? End this war now and make peace. This way we can rebuild Cybertron together and live as equals." Some bots rolled their optics at how naive Optimus sounded; even Optimus didn't believe in his own words.

"Do you take me for a fool? Your command just made fun of me," the seeker's optics were glazed over with energon tears. "I just poured my spark out by telling you my beliefs and he just made fun of me, and you just let him! How can I agree to peace where we will all just be picked on by your troops?" Starscream let out a sob much to the opposing army's growing horror.

"Oh, poor Star, Sky is here," Skywarp touched down and wrapped his leader in a hug, hiding him away from the Autobots' view. "Don't listen to those mean mechs."

The Autobots couldn't help but gape at the crying seeker. "Okay, now I feel really bad," Jazz whispered to Prowl. "Starscream is a really good actor."

"What is going on here?" snarled Megaton as he finally made his way off the cliff and to the front lines.

"_Megatron~!_" shouted Starscream as he leap from Skywarp towards Megatron with his servos outstretched.

Bots watched as Megatron let out a feminine—er, _mechly_ yelp and ducked behind Soundwave whom the leader had dragged with him unwillingly. The Communications Officer was now holding a sobbing seeker as he stood frozen between the two commanders of the Decepticon army. "S-Soundwave? Ironhide just made fun of me and Optimus is so mean!"

"…There there?"

"How could you? Just standing there as Starscream is being teased, what type of leader are you," Skywarp accused, poking the stunned Autobot leader in the chest with no one stopping him. Optimus could only stare stupidly at the poking finger. "You talk about fairness and being all nice but look at that! You hypocrap!"

"Hypocrite," corrected Prowl without thinking about it.

"Yeah see! Even your second in command agrees. You're a mean, mean Prime. Making my leader cry! Apologize! And make that fatty red bot apologize too!"

"I am not fat!-" some of the Autobots couldn't help but snicker at this.

"You're a fatty, fat, fat-fat!" taunted Skywarp, pointing a servo finger at the annoyed red bot as Ratchet had to cover his mouth, snickering louder. "You're so fat you don't just stand on the battle field, you're everywhere on it and all around!"

"Why you-!"

"AHH! He's gonna roll on top of me and flatten me into a metal sheet!" Skywarp squeaked and warped back into the air, hiding behind Thundercracker.

"'_Fatty fat, fat-fat?'_"

"It was the best I could think of without swearing at him."

"No, Skywarp, we can't just make fun of them like that! Then we'll just be as bad as they are," Starscream recovered, wiping his tears away from his optics dramatically and letting out a sniff, "it's obvious that they don't take any of us seriously. They talk about fairness and equality but when put to the test it's all a bunch of lies and propaganda.

"My fellow Decepticons! We are not at all like these mean Autobots-"

"'Mean's actually the nicest thing they have ever called us," pointed out Prowl.

"We do not lie about our intentions and hide behind a wall of verbal fakeness. For we strive for the resurrection of our once great home! Not putting prejudiced views on our fellow companions, we do not judge our team mates for their social standings and their model types! No! We accept them for who they are and how well they fight for our goals and dreams!"

"Starscream, half the mechs in our army aren't nobles-"

"Look at the mechs that were once your brothers in modes! Look what they have become! They have been brainwashed by their charismatic leader and have been turned against us! They are made to believe that they are better than us! Have the same mode? Who cares, I'm with the Autobots who spout about love and peace so I must be better! At least we are true with our intentions! At least we are free to be ourselves!"

"Prime, I would just take the 'charismatic' compliment," Ratchet pointed out, smirking as Ironhide was sending him a dark glare. "It's the best you're ever going to get."

"Megatron, aren't you going to do anything?"

"And get his attention? Are you **mad, **Prime?"

"For all their preaching about a better way and world, they have done nothing for peace and the reconstruction of our world that their leader preaches about every time we meet. What have you done for our planet, Prime? What have you done for our fellow mechs? All you have been doing is attacking us and helping the humans who do nothing for our kind except take away precious time that we could be using to create energon, because they're too lazy to help themselves—helpless, thankless little buggers who just turn around and blame you for bringing a war to their planet even after all of your aid!" Optimus jumped as Starscream whirled around from talking to the Decepticon army to pointing a servo finger right between the Autobot leader's optics, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

"…Err, I'm sorry?" Optimus fiddled with his servos looking sheepishly at the tri-colored seeker while his command groaned and snickered depending on the mech. "What? He's really convincing."

"I have to give credit, his arguments are valid," stated Prowl crossing his servos as his battle computer created scenarios, "but still, they are just small problems in the larger picture."

"I don' care if they're 'valid'! It ain't gonna stop me from slaggin' his-"

"—Swearing makes Primus cry!" Skywarp cut in, materializing in front of the red mech and taping his mouth shut, warping away and leaving Ironhide left struggling to remove the black tape over his mouth.

"…I love that black seeker," noted Ratchet, taking one look at Ironhide before hiding behind First Aid and laughing his circuits out when he realized that the tape was magnetic rather than sticky.

"Starscream has amazing acting skills, Prime. Might even be better than mine," muttered Jazz rubbing his chin.

"Who cares what Screamer is blabbing on about? We're still gonna slag you for that last battle!" shouted Sideswipe, glaring at Starscream who looked at the Lamborghini with wide innocent optics.

"They're gonna be picking up pieces from your aft stellar cycles from now!" joined in Sunstreaker, readying to jump the seeker with his twin brother.

"…If you two are really feeling left out," started Thundercracker, landing in front of Starscream with servos outstretched, "I can offer you both a hug."

Both red and yellow mechs froze in their tracks at this.

"I know that we have gotten off on the wrong foot, being on different sides of the war and all, but we're not that different." Thundercracker quickly grabbed Sideswipe's servos, pulling him in till they were optic to optic. "I know that all the pranking and general acting out is just a cover for you just wanting some positive attention from someone, for someone to just tell you that's it's okay, to accept you for who you are and to tell you that you are loved," grabbing Sunstreaker's servos as well, and getting optic to optic with the yellow mech, "I know all that general anger and antisocial behavior is a calling for someone to come and accept you for who you are, to get to know you personally, to put an effort in showing that they really care for you and they want you for who you are," hugging both the frozen bots in an embrace, "and I want to tell you both, that I do."

There was a pause of awestruck silence for a few clicks before both twins let out a scream and frantically broke out of the embrace to hide behind the closest bot, which happened to be Bluestreak. They used his door wings as shields, peeking out behind the edges in case the seeker came at them again. Ratchet was on the floor in hysterics now, and First Aid sat by his mentor, making sure that the white medic at least kept breathing. Skywarp landed next to his trine mate, sending a side look at Jazz. Noticing this, Jazz gave the seeker a smirk and a playfully cocked brow. Skywarp leapt at the chance. "I want a hug too! Will you hug me, Jazz?"

"As long as you don't shoot or stab me," Jazz played along with the black seeker.

Skywarp squealed happily and skipped over to Jazz, wrapping his servos around the grey mech's waist. Jazz without even flinching returned the hug, keeping on his poker face. Since Jazz was not facing the seeker, he did not notice the light confusion and annoyance that splayed across Skywarp's face. ~_Star, what do I do now?~_

_~Say something about…~_

"You know, Jazz? Looking at those minibots and that Bumblebee of yours, you know what they remind me of?"

"I have no idea, Skywarp. Why don't you give me the down low?"

"Sparklings," Skywarp sighed dreamily, pretending to be oblivious to how the saboteur's frame was starting to tense. He laughed internally at finding the mysterious bot's weakness before continuing, "oh, they're so cute and small! Can you imagine it, Jazz? Sparklings! I love them! I want like ten of them!"

"T-t-te-ten?" Jazz squeaked.

"Yeah! Ten or more! I want ten bouncing squeaking sparklings running about my pedes, and cooing for my attention," Skywarp sighed, softly rubbing Jazz's waist with his claws while pretending not to realize what he was doing, and it sent shivers of dread and horror through Jazz's system. "You know what, Jazz?"

"W-w-wha?"

"Starscream's really smart you know. I think if I ask him, he could find a way to allow me to carry a sparkling!"

Next thing the seeker knew, he was thrown into Prime's servos as Jazz let out a hysterical scream, throwing off the seeker and taking off running in the opposite direction away from the Decepticon army. The Autobots could barely watch as the once always cool saboteur transformed and drove away still screaming in terror. "…I think I love you too, Skywarp," muttered Prowl, referencing Ratchet's earlier comment. Incidentally, the medic was now recharging because he laughed himself out.

"Of course! I'm loveable!" Skywarp moved away from the Autobot leader while waggling his optics at Megatron. The Decepticon leader cringed and inched behind Optimus.

"See, Prime! Your troops can't even take us seriously! How can we expect peace and a truce if we are just met with this?" Starscream shouted, waving his servos around. "How can we ever trust you?"

"…I'm sorry? Can I make it up to you?" The Autobot leader mumbled in shock as the lime light was thrown on him again.

"Prime, what have you done?" Megatron wailed, grabbing the other leader and shaking him back and forth. "Has the last battle taught you nothing? Have the last stellar cycles lead to no indication? YOU DON'T ENCOURAGE THE SEEKER UNLESS YOU'RE READY TO BE SUBJECTED TO HIS WRATH! HE'S BEEN LIKE THIS FOR CYCLES AND CYCLES AND YOU REALLY WANT TO GO ALONG WITH HIS PLANS? ARE YOU CRAZY? STUPID? DO YOU ENJOY THE PAIN AND EMBARASSMENT? DO YOU SECRETLY WANT YOUR ARMY AND ALL THOSE AROUND YOU TO SUFFER? THAT SEEKER IS THE PIT MASTER REINCARNATED!"

"…I want a hug!" Starscream stated simply, cheerily and deliberately oblivious to his Leader's rant.

"…A … hug?" Optimus repeated. Megatron had stopped shaking him, and now he too was staring at the seeker in shock.

"A hug!" repeated the seeker, opening his servos wide in expectation, "give me a hug or I'll cry."

Both leaders blinked at the strange seeker before looking at each other, blinking. To both armies' shock, both the leaders turned their backs to Starscream and started whispering to each other over what should be done next. "I could just give him the hug."

"That would just be playing right into his hands!"

"But he said he will cry if I don't. Do you really want to comfort a crying seeker?"

"I suggest we both make a break for it."

"Can't he fly?"

"Damn, forgot about that… and he has the other seekers under his control."

"So, hug?"

"Primus, no matter what choice we have, we're all doomed."

"It's either hug or have a crying and whining seeker following you everywhere."

"Don't think he won't call your base and leave hundreds of messages saying you're a slag-tard for not giving him the hug."

"He would do that?"

"I find it hard to believe the things he **won't** do lately to annoy his victims."

"…Hug?"

"Seems like the lesser evil… Hug."

Nodding to each other the leaders turned back to the seeker who was waiting expectantly. Optimus gave one last glance to Megatron who shrugged hopelessly, and then he walked up to the seeker, bent down a little, and hugged him around his waist while the seeker wrapped his servos around the Prime's neck. There were a few clicks of silence as Optimus hugged the purring seeker, not daring to move as the he couldn't do anything but wait for the seeker to make his move. "This is nice!"

"Um… Glad you like it?"

"Course I do. It's a hug!"

Prime could only nod stiffly while Starscream let out another coo and rubbed his helm into the leader's chest, "I really like this, Prime."

"…I'm glad?"

"It's only too bad your teammates won't ever agree to this."

"…We have been fighting this war for stellar cycles…"

"But I'm so sick of the fighting," pouted Starscream, "this is what they need to do together!"

"…Hug each other?"

"You're right, Prime!" Starscream broke the hug looking surprised at Optimus' guess. "That's what we should do! Hug and make up!"

"The Decepticons do not hug and make up!" Megatron snarled, throwing his servos out in the air.

"But we should!" Starscream pointed a servo finger at Megatron's face, "and a good leader would do this!"

"What type of leader would-?"

"Me of course! Leader of the Decepticons!"

There was a click of silence before everything clicked in the processors of all the mechs present on the battlefield. The encouraging words… the sense of honor… the goal of revival… the acting of peace and love… Starscream was playing his last and biggest role yet…

He was playing Optimus Prime.

"…Oh Primus…" Megatron moaned and slowly backed away, his optics twitching.

"Where you going, Megatron?" Megatron whirled around to see Dirge standing right behind him, staring up at the grey mech with wide optics, "didn't you hear our leader's orders?"

"Don't you dare!" Megatron started, backing away from the new seeker, "this battle has officially ended! We are returning to base!"

"But we can't do that!" Thrust landed with a dull thud next to his wing mate, copying Dirge's innocent stance, "our leader gave us a direct order."

"For us to hug and make up!" chirped Ramjet who also landed by them. He turned towards his air commander, "our part of the plan is complete, Commander Starscream!"

"Part of your plan?" muttered Prowl in confusion, quickly scanning the battle field. It seemed like nothing had changed but a few of the positions of the Decepticon soldiers, nothing unusual.

"Good! Now, Optimus Prime, as leader of your faction, I request your teammates follow your order to hug and make up with my Decepticon companions! I would say you should start with hugging Megatron," Starscream practically sang with brilliant smile, "for you have been too long at war with one another! It's time to end this and just love instead of fight!"

"You're out of your slagging mind if you think I'm just going to stand there and let Prime hug me-"

"Starscream! As… nice… as your plan is, it's not going to work," Optimus tried to reason with the seeker while some bots were already making a break for it, "our goals and ideals are just too different to forget in just one moment."

"But it's a start, Prime, and that's how love and peace comes around; with a start of good intentions," Starscream clasped Optimus' servos together in his, and gazed straight into his optics, "will you comply?"

"…Umm I'm sorry, Starscream, but I have to say no… It's not just possible…"

"…Then **I'm **sorry Prime," Starscream broke contact with a sad sigh, turning his back on the two leaders, "your declination of my proposition is disappointing, to say the least. For all your preaching about love and peace, when you're put into the moment, you cave under social expectations. But you have to understand, Prime, a strong leader would take this step, the step to make a difference, to make a change, even when all is against him! So I'm sorry to do this."

Without warning Starscream quickly spun around on his heels, raised his servos quick as light, and with a flashing bang, both his null rays went off and shot Optimus in the chest.

Optimus gasped in shock, looking down briefly, then looking back up to the grim-looking seeker as the numbness spread outwards at an alarming rate. In mere seconds Optimus was completely paralyzed.

"Prime!" Prowl shouted. He was quickly stunned before he could act, as Dirge had shot the police bot twice in the back, freezing him in mid-reach for his gun. Prowl could only watch in paralyzed silence as the seeker trines quickly started shooting into the line of Autobots, taking down many in the first volley. As Autobots tried to run for cover, the Rainmakers quickly blocked off their routes, revealing their hiding place behind the opposing army to pick off the ones uninjured.

Just as quickly though, the Autobots started to shoot back at the seekers. Even Megatron was joining them. And after a few seconds of seeing themselves outnumbered and outmatched, Starscream quickly gave the word for the seekers to take to their natural element in the air. "Hailstorm, you planted them right?"

"Just as you commanded!"

"Set them off."

Right below the seekers the ground mechs could only glance at the devices that had just thrust themselves out of the dirt around them blinking in red and green lights. The mechs quickly scattered hoping that whatever Starscream's device did it would miss them.

Too bad Starscream was an expert planner.

Before the mechs could even take a few steps, the devices let out a series of high pitched wails before exploding in blue electro fields. As each blue field arced out and connected with each other, they joined and expanded in a matter of seconds. Soon the field had washed through every single bot in the army, leaving them completely frozen in their positions. It had shorted out all their motor functions, leaving them defenseless against the now landing seekers.

Starscream smirked triumphantly as he landed in front of Megatron. He stamped his pede at some leftover field generators that were still sparking after their initial monstrous discharge. "You see, Prime and Megatron, it wasn't a choice. As grand leader, I am making a stand, and you will participate in this. It's for the good of us all, you see, and though you may hate it at first, you sometimes gotta force a few bots to do the right thing.

"Null rays, you see," explained the tri-colored seeker strutting off to Thundercracker's side. He traced his fingers over his arm-mounted weapons. "Of course, I don't want to deactivate any of you, so I traded my seekers' usual weapons for _my_ signature null rays, so none of you will be hurt or injured," Starscream skipped over to Prowl and spun him around into a dip, "just paralyzed completely! And those were electro generator field devices. Kind of like null ray mines really—they have the same effect.

"But the reason I did all this," Starscream spun Prowl back into his upright position before skipping over to Megatron who was frozen standing still pointing his fusion cannon into the air where the seekers once were, "is so that we can all get together and see that we're all not so different—to get closer together in understanding, and to better tolerate each other. Knowing that you wouldn't agree to it, I had to take extreme measures for the greater good, you see, Megatron."

Manually moving the frozen grey mech's limbs, Starscream removed the fusion cannon and threw it aside, moving the servos so that they were in an out reaching motion, tilting him forward, popping one pede up at the knee backwards, and tilting his head up. Starscream stood back for a click, surveying his work. He tilted his head and made a square with his fingers, looking through them like Megatron was in a picture. With a grin and hum of satisfaction, Starscream snapped his fingers.

Thundercracker and Skywarp both gave a salute and nod before marching to the side of the opposing leader. With a huff, they both grabbed Optimus' servos and dragged him over to where Starscream was. Starscream nodded happily and manually proceeded to rearrange the limbs of the tall Autobot leader. He then pushed him into Megatron's embrace, and wrapped one servo around Megatron's waist while the other cradled the back of the grey mech's head. Finally he tilted their helms so that both mechs' foreheads met, and he fiddled with Optimus Prime's faceplate till the mask came off. Gazing at the mask in his servo, Starscream let out another happy hum before sub spacing the souvenir.

"See? That wasn't so hard! And look at that! Mechs getting along together, buddy-buddy like," Starscream snapped his fingers once again causing the other seekers to fall into line, saluting, "move the others here, please. Are the Constructicons, Combaticons, and Soundwave still around?"

"Hiding in a cave, Sir!"

"Good. Ask them to move our mechs here and position them like this. This is a chance for peace and for us to get to know each other better," Starscream clasped his servos together joyfully before walking over to Sideswipe and grabbing the still mech, spinning him in circles before landing in a dip in front of the seekers. "I'll let you choose the positions and the mechs, alright?"

"Yes sir! Generous as always, sir!"

With a wave of one servo, the eight seekers took off to the direction of the Decepticon army, while Starscream just hummed a simple tone and continued to dance with random Autobot mechs. The beautiful part? Even though they were paralyzed, the Autobots could still hear, feel, and see everything, and Starscream was playing on all of it.

Soon the Constructicons, Combaticons, and Soundwave and his cassetticons could all be seen trotting after the eight seekers, and all were dragging different members of the Decepticon army with them. Starscream only posed in mid-movement, holding Bumblebee in a spinning motion, nodded at the incoming mechs, and picked up Bumblebee by the waist, hauling him along. He gave a shining smile at the mobile mechs, and quickly moved over and relieved Soundwave of Blitzwing. Moving the triple changers limbs so that he had both servos out in a cradling motion with his head tilting down to the side, the seeker then placed the yellow minibot into Blitzwing's outstretched arms. Thinking about it, Starscream then bent Bumblebee's pedes together and pulled his servos out as if reaching for Blitzwing's face.

"Ta da~! What do you think?" Mortified horror could be seen in two frozen mechs' optics as they stood helplessly in their ridiculous position.

Silently, Soundwave bent down and picked up one of Blitzwing's pedes, moving it slowly upwards as well as pushing Blitzwing's torso forward. The triple changer was now precariously balanced on one pede and leaning forward, looking like he had just caught a fallen femme. Starscream only raised one curious brow before smiling and applauding Soundwave's work. "Hah! Much better than before! Kay~ you all have your orders! Time to get these bots together! Move out!"

With a salute, the mechs scattered with eager, wicked grins, grabbing Autobots and Decepticons alike to put together.

Ironhide and Wildrider were dragged together and placed on the rocky ground in a cuddling position facing each other. The more wild and hyperactive Wildrider could be seen twitching still, which only led Thrust to shoot him again with the null ray to stop the movement. Then, as an afterthought, the red jet moved off and came back dragging Cliffjumper, putting the red minibot in between the cuddling mechs.

Ratchet was flown up by Hailstorm and Acidstorm, put on his servos and pedes, and was then placed on a pyramid of bots. It was a mixture of the Stunticons and Protectobots, and some were upside down while others were copping a feel for each other. Both seekers looked at each other. Hailstorm shook his head and both bots then picked up Ratchet again and made him stand up with his servos pointing to the sky in triumph. Both seekers looked at each other again. Acidstorm shook his head this time; it still needed more. Hailstorm paused to think for a moment, and then suddenly flew off to the side, picked up a bouquet of flowers and brought it back to the mech pyramid. With a nod from both seekers, they made it so Ratchet was holding the flowers to the sky.

Prowl was taken by the cassetticons and Soundwave. The police bot's servos were stretched out wide with his wings pulled back, standing on one pede leaning to the side, the black and white bot was used to hold and balance the insecticons. Kickback and Shrapnel were leaning on each other with their pedes on the Datsun's wings, and standing on their helms was Bombshell. Now they were just borrowing Ratbat's markers to draw all over the mechs to add color, Frenzy's suggestion.

Soon Autobots and Decepticons were mixed and matched in outrageous and strange positions, and in the middle of it all were the nine seekers, Soundwave, his Cassetticons, the Constructicons, and Combaticons—all of them were sitting around having an energon picnic. "I think this has been a profitable day. Mechs are learning to get together, and our space bridge is safe. Energon all around, mechs."

"I'm feeling pretty good," chattered Skywarp, snickering at a pair of frozen mechs where one was bent over and the other was kissing his aft.

"Content," said Thundercracker, resting his cube on Sunstreaker's helm with a smirk.

The others nodded while making their own comments, "You jammed the signal here, right?"

"Signal: Jammed, Sir Starscream."

"Ah, ah~." He was clearly waiting for something from him.

"Revision: Commander Starscream."

"Better! Now come, we must return to their base and distract the Autobots that fled or stayed before the null ray mines were activated, so that they don't come here and ruin the lesson." Starscream jumped up with a sigh and skipped over to where the two leaders were.

"Star? How long will they stay like this? I mean, usually your null rays paralyze, sure, but this time it took only one shot to stun them… Sooo how long will the effect last?" Skywarp asked curiously.

"By my calculations, it will fade out tomorrow at midday."

"…You mean it's going to last a whole day?" In unison, every mech gasped in shock.

"Of course. I had to make sure that one shot was all it took to stun a mech, so the effects would have to last longer and be more powerful," Starscream explained while dancing a circle around the hugging leaders, "but this is also to make completely certain that they learn their lesson together."

"Hello Megatron and Optimus. Nice to see that you're both still participating and happy~." Starscream moved to put a smile on both their faces, "and yes, you heard right, a whole day together. What fun! Being together after all this time, feeling the mech behind the mask… oh Megatron, soon we'll be skipping through the flowers together with the Autobots hand in hand. But you know, smart Optimus here didn't take all his bots with him, so we have to stop them from noticing you now. Oh, don't worry Opti-missy Prime, it's just some fun with paintballs and noise makers. Don't you worry your itty bitty pretty little head."

With a twirl the Seeker motioned for the other bots to move, and the seekers and grounders immediately took off towards the orange Autobot base.

"Your base has such an ugly color, Optimus, but don't worry, we'll fix that," Starscream watched as the bots moved out of sight before turning to Megatron and Optimus with an evil smirk.

"Oh poor, poor Megatron. What have you gotten yourself into now? tsk tsk," Starscream laughed his usual cackling laugh before shaking his head and stifling his mirth, "I told you, you would pay for doubting me, '_Oh Starscream, even an Autobot would be so much better than you._' I guess now you know what it's like having an Autobot command. And to think, all you had to do was apologize to me and thank me for all my hard work, but of course you didn't, and I have to say that this has all been really fun. And look, I have the army at my command now. Isn't that grand?"

With a spinning flourish, Starscream pulled out Optimus' mask and placed it over his own mouth, "but the act goes on. Don't worry dear Megatron; I may be out of command mechs, but what do you think about the talkative Bluestreak? Sneaky Mirage where I can just pop out of any corner? Hippy, nature loving Hound where I can redecorate mechs and the base with organic flowers and plant matter? Oh the possibilities! And don't think that this doesn't apply to you too, Optimus. Can you imagine the battles? Organic flower cannons, dance-offs, paint ball fights, and well, if things cross over the line of innocent," Starscream traced Optimus' antenna with a seductive purr, "well, I _am_ a Decepticon."

"But I have really spent too much time here. I am needed to launch the redecorating of the Autobot's Ark. You both have fun," pulling off his mask to give both leaders a kiss on their helms before smirking and putting it on again, "I have another lesson to teach about love and peace, and you both have to stay here for a day and night to get over the rough patches you both have. See you later, loves."

Living up to his name, Starscream went shooting into the sky with a screeching roar of thrusters, lancing through the air like a shooting star.

The poor, paralyzed mechs were left behind… unmoving even when night approached… in the middle of the night… and into the early morning… stuck in ridiculous positions together.

Around mid-afternoon of the next day, they were finally able to twitch and scramble away from each other. Both factions could only look at each other with an awkward silence before shuffling off back to their respective bases, not being able to even meet optics.

The Autobots came back to their base, and to their awestruck wonder, it was dripping in so much paint that the whole mountain side was splattered a rainbow patchwork of colors. The returning Autobots could only gawk up at the bots that were left back at the base in all their various positions on the rock face. They were stuck there due to the vast amount of force and paint that had been launched at them. "Jazz is that you?" Prowl gasped in awe.

"Uh huh," replied the now purple bot, "…we got it all on tape, Prime."

"…We have to demand Megatron apologize to Starscream," Optimus rumbled, massaging his aching optics. "Where is Skyfire? Get him to convince Starscream to stop."

"Oh, Sky? He's the big yellow and green blob up there with the twitching wings," reported Jazz gesturing upward, "he can't talk because his mouth has been stuffed full of energon gum."

"Murrrmff!"

"…Primus…," whimpered Optimus in defeat.

When the Decepticons returned back to their base though, they were greeted with hundreds and hundreds of blooming flowers decorating the whole base. They could only stand in the air lock in shock until Starscream came skipping in with a basket full of flowers nestled in the crook of his elbow, a flower skirt, and streamers flying in the air. "Oh Megatron, you're back! My golly gosh you arrived just in time! Me and the others were just going to have a tea party! Won't you join us?" Starscream let out a girlish giggle—many mechs flinched back and cringed.

Needless to say, Megatron was at last on his knees, begging Starscream for forgiveness, and clutching onto the seeker like a lifeline. After an hour of begging from the army, and so many compliments thrown his way, Starscream smirked, nodded, and tore off the flowers on him, "nice to see I'm finally appreciated around here now," he smiled evilly as his true self returned.

Cycles later, everything had gone back to normal. Fights were fought, arguments were made, energon was collected and shipped, and strategies were discussed. If one looked closer though, the seekers were given more space, Starscream's orders were followed and his plans taken into account, the Constructicons had more free time to tinker with their own plans, Soundwave was not badgered for every decision by Megatron, and the Combaticons were moved to a larger, more spacious room.

_*Some weeks later….*_

"I am not giving you permission to fool around with those radioactive generators!"

"But I can increase the output of its primitive work by tenfold, and we won't even have to raid any human factories for months!"

"Megatron, maybe you should allow Starscream to-"

"You! Shut up! It's not your base he's going to have that bomb in! It's mine, and I don't want that fool to blow us all to the pit!"

"It's not even going to be on the base! I know an uninhabited island where I can conduct the experiments without putting any mech in danger!"

"No!"

"Megatron, be reasonable! This could lead to Shockwave being able to rebuild the south section of the city-"

"NO!"

"Megatron, can't you at least hear this out more-"

"Prime, I said stay out of this!"

Starscream could only pout as the leaders started arguing with one another. Megatron seemed to be falling right back into old habits of not listening to the seeker, and with a small smirk Starscream quickly commed Skywarp to come over with a few things.

As the leaders were arguing, they were interrupted when the doors of the command room whooshed open to reveal the black and purple seeker. Both leaders eyed the seeker curiously, but the teleporter only shrugged casually before shuffling over to Starscream. Handing something over to his trine leader, he stood back to watch as Starscream took a few steps towards the leaders' view and lifted the items to his helm.

Two pairs of commanding optics widened in horror as the items were revealed to be two light bulbs on each side of Starscream's helm.

Oh Primus…

Needless to say, Starscream got his reactor.

~Fin~


End file.
